INTREPID
by Nedy Rahn
Summary: Halloween 1997 not the smallest of which was Xander not only retaining his memories of being a future self, but a large starship that may just be the answer to a pesky alien problem a secret military operation in a certain mountain has.
1. Chapter 1

**INTREPID**

BY D. L. HEMMINGWAY AKA ANDREA MAINE

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This is a crossover between Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Stargate: SG-1, NCIS and the pen and paper role playing game Traveller. Buffy the Vampire Slayer is the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy Productions. Stargate: SG-1 is the property of Brad Wright and Jonathan Glassner along with the Sci Fi channel. Traveller is the property of Marc Miller and produced by various gaming companies including Steve Jackson Games for its GURPS series of role playing rules. Marc Miller has let me have permission as per his open use rules to write the Traveller based parts of this. NCIS is the intellectual property of CBS.

Timeline wise it is pre series for NCIS, and seasons two for both Stargate: SG-1 and BtVS.

There is one deviation from "Said ship should NOT possess any of its usual crew complement beyond digital sentience. I.E. if the ship possesses artificial bodies controlled by the ship's AI then they should still exist on the ship. An example is the "Ship Made Flesh" android body of Rommy on the Andromeda Ascendant." For this story Janus interfered and snatched Faith from one of her hiding places after Kakistos' attack on her adoptive mother's house.

**Additional Author's Note: The original posting was the wrong version and had I posted the follow on chapters there would have been confusion.**

CHAPTER ONE

**19:00 PST 31 October 1997 Sunnydale, California**

Alexander Harris couldn't place where he was at the moment. He was dressed in a Terran Confederation Armed Forces tactical vest, the tri-tone muted gray splash pattern camouflaged utilities the Terran Confederation Navy issued for its duty dress uniform, a ballistic helmet with an heads up display and night vision enhancement built into the face place and a multichannel-secure communicator and he had on ballistic combat boots. In the sky above the stars were right for Earth, but they were wrong for the middle of autumn in the year 2297 of the Common Era. Yet here he was on some ancient looking suburban street surrounded by a squad of Terran Confederation Marines. These Marines wore Marine Combat Armor and carried the KG56A3 Gauss Assault Rifle that was standard issue for the TCAF forces.

Xander himself carried a KMP7 gauss personal defense weapon (GPDW) and KP8 Gauss Pistol. As an afterthought he checked the loads of his weapons finding that he had magazines loaded with tranquilizer rounds instead of the more lethal solid core-soft shell full metal jackets. Hearing commotions nearby he glanced around seeing that there were hundreds of short little hobbit sized aliens running around terrorizing the local residents. There were also small groups of child sized soldiers, police officers, cowboys, and other not aliens either banding together or seeking refuge somewhere other than here.

Alex checked the chronometer on his wrist comp or wrist computer, a small portable computer one wore on their forearm like a vambrace. It said the time was around 19:00 local and the date was no that can't be right, 31 October 1997. He looked up and said, "Does anyone else have their wrist comp's chronometer reading that it's 31 October 1997?" He now had another worry as his ship had been called back to Earth to deal with a raid by a fleet from the Vilani Empire or the Ziru Sirka. The Grand Empire of Stars was on the ropes and some enterprising Admiral of their Fleet showed an unusual amount of initiative by taking the offensive this late in the game. The TCS INTREPID and the STRIKE CRUISER GROUP it belonged to SCG-100 was dispatched from the victory at the Battle of the Three Suns and they had only just recently jumped in system, cleared it of Vilani Battlecruisers and their escorts. Now Alex before finding himself here remembered taking a group of Marines to inspect their Earth home station at Terran Confederation Naval Station Sunnydale. Vilani Marines landed in the area and the 15th and 20th Marine Expeditionary Units of SCG-100 busied themselves clearing the city of them.

**Earth Orbit over Sunnydale, California 19:15 PST 31 October 1997**

Faith remembered running for her life into the night. She wandered the woods and hills west of Diana's Salem home until she remembered holing up in a storm drain or culvert near a railroad yard. She remembered falling asleep wishing for someone to comfort and protect her. Then she remembered someone saying, "Sssssh Faith I've never left you and always have loved you." She remembered seeing a spectral woman who resembled the teenager now resting next to her then everything faded to black.

When Faith woke up here in this bed she was naked next to a woman who looked to be in her early twenties or late teens. The back of the young woman looked familiar like she should know this back intimately. Jean was the name that came to mind as Faith looked at the nude back tracing every line as if caressing it with her eyes. Ln the deepest recesses of her memory something stirred, something primeval ancient older than modern life. Faith knew deep within she and Jean had been lovers, but so long ago that modern humans were just beginning to venture out of their ancestral lands in Africa. She remembered a life led on a giant ancient spaceship, no not a spaceship, but a starship. The GALACTICA a name she hadn't thought of in so long that Adam and Eve had not yet left paradise.

Faith looked around and saw she was inside a stateroom. Staterooms were found on ships, but this did not feel like it was an ocean going ship. From what she cold see this ship made the GALACTICA look like a turn of the Century tramp steamer. The walls were smooth with no rivet heads showing. In fact the wall panels looked to be snap in and easily replaced. The room had four bunks and a central common area. Two bunks were on the starboard bulkhead and the other two including the one Faith was sharing with Jean were on the forward bulkhead. The aft bulkhead had two desks separated by a hatch leading to what Faith knew was the head or fresher for this stateroom. The four wall lockers for the occupants of this stateroom were in the corner between the four bunks. The desks each had a computer workstation each with a wide flat screen monitor and a touch screen keyboard that was part of the desk's surface.

Pausing a moment Faith tested to see if this was a dream or real. She gently touched Jean and the other woman stirred, did not waken. The bed felt real as did the bulkhead and other walls around the small cubical this part of the tiered beds. Risking waking up the woman she was entwined with Faith worked her way gently over Jean and stepped out on to the deck of the room. Again she noticed a difference from the Bucket as GALACTICA had been called, the floor or deck felt warm to the touch of the souls of her feet. Not hot, but comfortably warm.

Naked she padded around the room to look at it better. Faith remembered going to sleep in a culvert somewhere in western Massachusetts after the attack on Diana's house, but she never dreamed that she would wake up in this room reunited with Jean. On the wall at a forty five degree angle to the four wall lockers was a polished metal mirror. She went over and looked in the mirror at her reflection and what she saw back at her wasn't the sixteen to seventeen year old street toughened kid, but a woman of either eighteen to twenty three years old with some scars from old fights and yet still fairly attractive looking. Her breasts were firm and her muscles taught. Her build reminded her of a cross between a softball player and a female boxer. Even her most intimate area was nothing to look away from. It was topped by a small triangle of neatly trimmed soft hair.

After admiring her nude form Faith looked over to the wall lockers on her left and saw one with her name on a plastic plate slid into a holder for it. The plate read, "Faith Lehane, Lieutenant Junior Grade; Terran Confederation Navy." Below that was a decal for a crest of a fighter squadron.

The crest was for VFA – 132 "the Privateers." Faith frowned she remembered her late step father saying back when she was going with him through a Navy museum dedicated to Naval Aviation that the Privateers were deactivated in 1992 after only being in service for eight years. Yet here she was looking at a decal depicting the very crest of that Attack Fighter Squadron. Then she noticed a series of stickers or decals below that on the door of her locker. They were of some alien yet very human looking fighter. There were twenty of them. She remembered Commander Lehane saying that any fighter pilot who downed five enemy fighters in combat was an ace. Here before her eyes was evidence that at some time either in the past or the future she had achieved that distinction four times.

Faith opened the wall locker with her name on it. Inside were two Dress Uniforms, one black or very dark navy and the other in white. Likewise she counted two Casual Dress Uniforms in the same two colors each as well as four three tone gray uniforms she knew were Terran Confederation Navy issue Duty Dress or Utility Uniforms. Next to those were three TCN Aviator's Flight Suits which doubled as lightweight vaccsuits. On the left shoulders of the flight suits and the utilities were attached cloth patches of VFA-132. Over the uniforms was a shelf with three hats or covers. There were two women's issue service caps, a black beret, and a tricolor gray utility cap. On the floor of the wall locker just above a chest of drawers were a pair of black low quarter style dress shoes, two pairs of flight boots and a pair of flip-flop style shower shoes. She knelt down and as she did she saw a picture of her and Jean in their flight suits by a pair of wedge like arrowhead shaped fighters. "Nope we weren't flying Vipers when that picture was taken," she said to herself as she pulled open the top drawer as if she knew her underwear and bras were in there. The second and lower drawer held her socks and some of her civilian clothing.

Faith went over holding a pair of panties and a slip-on sports type bra in her left hand and lightly shook Jean with her right, "Wake up sleepy head. We'd best get cleaned up and dressed. Oh and we're not on the Bucket, but the Fighting I this time." She saw Jean hold herself up slightly and look around saying, "Oh frak how late is it?" Faith looked over to the comm panel by the hatch leading out of the stateroom. The chronometer on its display read 19:15 and the date read 31 October 1997. "I think it's seven pee em on Halloween night of the year nineteen ninety seven."

As she spoke the fresher's hatch opened and none other than Starbuck and Racetrack walked out they were dressed in their underwear, TCN issue sports bras and panties in the dark navy blue that the TCN loved so much. "Damn the Powers that Be have hooked us up with Racetrack and Starbuck again!" Lieutenant Kara Thrace smiled then said, "Belay that Lieutenant and Nightshade take a shower and get dressed. The four of us are going to explore the Fighting I to see if it's like I remember it. Speaking of that what's the last memory or memories you have?" Faith looked blankly at them first then that turned to a look of concentration. As she looked she saw that both Racetrack and Starbuck looked like she remembered them from the GALACTICA.

Faith remembered now and said, "I remember Jean and I holding each other as age took her from me down on New Earth. I remember losing my left hand to John Cavil's sadism on New Caprica. I remember pulling your ass out of the fire as three Vilani tried to flame you at the Battle of the Three Suns, and I remember last night falling asleep alone and afraid in a culvert in the rail yard at Springfield Massachusetts. Diana Dormer, my mother and Watcher had died saving me from a monster by the name of Kakistos. Then I woke up here next to Jean."

Jean got up nude as Faith and padded over to her wall locker. She drew out her underwear then placed a flight suit on the bunk she had obviously shared with Faith after the Lords of Kobol or rather Janus, Athena and Hermes had placed them in after she found a sixteen or seventeen year old Faith freezing in that culvert. "Lay off Starbuck. The kid's still trying to sort her memories. She's lived three lifetimes as the same person. One in this century as a Potential and later the last of the Chosen Vampire Slayers; then there was her time with us on the Bucket after you all rescued us from Caprica. The last is yet to come and this ship is from that timeline or a facsimile of the one we all served on during the Ninth Interstellar War with our cousins the Vilani." At that moment as the women were getting their bearings and trying to recall just what they each recalled the door buzzed and Jean instinctively called out, "Enter!"

The hatch leading to the interior of the rest of the INTREPID whooshed nearly silently open. There standing in the door was a humanoid formed android, "Lieutenants after I ran a check of shipboard sensors you four are the only biological beings aboard the INTREPID. Alice asked me to see if you were well and to ask that you get ready and come to the Command Bridge. Captain Harris and some of the Ship's Company seem to be down on Terra or as it is called in this time period Earth. You are the only four members of the Ship's Company present as such Alice thinks that your presence is needed on the Bridge. Besides a Major General George S. Hammond with the United States Air Force wants to speak with an Officer and Lieutenant Thrace since you are the ranking Officer present the duty is yours as per TCN Regulation 124 dash 24 Paragraph 123B."

**Diana Dormer's residence Salem, Massachusetts 22:20 EST 31 October 1997**

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs and his supervisor Senior Special Agent Mike Franks of the Naval Criminal Investigation Service entered the house belonging to a Naval Reservist Lieutenant Commander named Diana Dormer. LCDR Dormer had been in the Royal Naval serving the minimum required time before she moved to the Boston area after getting a civilian job. She missed being in the Navy and enlisted into the United States Naval Reserve. After Officer Training and six years of spotless service she was a Lieutenant Commander and ran a Logistics Unit in the Naval Reserve Center in Boston. That was part of the briefing given to the pair before their commercial flight from D.C. to Boston.

LCDR Dormer's civilian job now was as a case worker in Massachusetts' Department of Children & Families where she worked with fostering and the adoption of orphaned children. According to her file she adopted the step daughter of a late Navy Commander Jonathan Lehane. As Gibbs searched the lower level of the three and a half story Victorian house he recalled what he could of LCDR Dormer and her adoption of CMDR Lehane's step daughter. As he found LCDR Dormer's body in the library with two Salem PD uniformed officers standing watch and the local ME giving Ducky the chance to look over the mortal remains of a fine officer from what he read Franks called out, "Probie!" Seeing Ducky otherwise known as Doctor Donald Mallard take possession of Dormer's corpse from the State ME Gibbs went to find Franks.

Stargate Command Gate Control Room 20:30 MST 31 October 1997

The day was becoming a long night for Major General George S. Hammond. This week already was a sour one though it turned out better in the end. The Goa'uld Queen Hathor had somehow escaped from her imprisonment on Earth. She took a host in the form of an Archeology Grad Student working a dig in Egypt. Then somehow she found the Stargate and infiltrated the base. She had some sort of ability to cause men to do her bidding without them consciously being able to resist her influence. If it had not been for the female personnel of the SGC this would have become a prelude to an invasion of Earth through the Stargate. Yet Captains Carter and Frazier led the unaffected females in a rebellion and rescue operation that retook the SGC and quarantined the male personnel until whatever it was that Hathor did to bend them to her will wore off.

Now the Canadian Air Force Colonel in command of the night shift in the NORAD Command Center twenty three levels above informed him of the sighting of two space ships in orbit over the Los Angeles area of California more precisely the Sunnydale County area. Then there were reports coming in from the Joint Forces Base there about some sort of alien incursion going on. He had just got off the phone with President Ryan and then called each member of SGs 1, 2, and 3 in. The other 17 SG units were deployed through the gate, down for rest and refit or on training exercises. SG1, SG2, and SG3 were the only available units to send to investigate this incursion. Now he waited for the teams he put on alert to come in.

**White House Situation Room Washington, D.C. 22:45 31 October 1997**

President Jack Ryan was now the lawfully elected President of the United States having filled out the last part of his late predecessor's term and winning a term of his own. He wondered at times like the one he was now facing if he should follow Teddy Roosevelt's path and not run for reelection in four years. The super-secret SGC had just averted a world ending attempt at a foothold and now reports coming from the commander of the Amphibious Group assigned to Joint Forces Base Sunnydale formerly Camp Fremont, an Army post and home to the 320th Light Infantry Brigade. The base always had a small port and the port was just big enough for the ships of an Amphibious Group. So the USS Kwajalein LHA-6 of the Tarawa-Class Amphibious Assault Ship General Purpose and Marine Expeditionary Unit 12 were based there along with the Air Force's 32d Fighter Squadron of the California Air National Guard and 184th Infantry Regiment of the California Army National Guard. These units were the military assets available if needed.

Jack looked to his Secretary of Defense and said, "Call up the Air Guard's Thirty Second Fighter Squadron and the Army Guard's One Eighty Fourth Infantry Regiment. While we're at it place MEU 12 and the 320th Light Infantry Brigade on alert. These reports beginning to come out of Sunnydale California are sounding more and more like what Project Blue Book calls a Foothold Situation."

The SecDef looked up from his seat at the conference table at the center of the command center deep in a secret bunker under the nations' capital. "Yes sir," he said then he looked over to Admiral Robert Jackson the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, "Admiral inform the commanders that their units are now on alert and have the National Guard Bureau activate the 32nd and the 184th. Lives are at stake as well as the future of our planet."

Admiral Robert Jackson nodded, gave a look at the Chief of Staff of the Army, the Chief of Naval Operations, the Commandant of the Marine Corps and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force saying, "Gentlemen you have your orders." Then he picked up the handset of the phone at his seat and asked for the Chief of the National Guard Bureau's office at the Pentagon. The ball was now rolling and only God or the Gods would know where it stops.

**1630 Revello Drive Sunnydale, California 19:45 PST 31 October 1997**

Captain Elizabeth "Buffy" Summers commanding officer of the 234th Ship's Security Company Terran Confederation Marine Corps found herself at the front door of a mid to late twentieth century house and she had a feeling that she knew this place. With her were Lieutenant Commander Cordelia Chase and Lieutenant Harmony Kendal. LCDR Chase was the TCS INTREPID's Chief Communications Officer and LT Kendall was the INTREPID's Deputy Chief Medical Officer and Chief Counselor.

Capt Summers somehow knew to kneel down at the small flower garden in front of the porch and to lift a rock to find a small metal box with a door key in it. She took the box from its hiding place, opened it, and took the key from it. She then walked up the steps to the porch and then up to the door. There she used it to unlock the dead bolt and the latch locks. Taking the latch handle in her right she tucked the key in a pouch on her tactical vest and then drew her KP8 with her left that done; she opened the door and carefully stepped inside.

Inside she motioned LCDR Chase to check the rooms to the right of the main room as she went towards an open doorway into what could be a kitchen just off the combined living and dining room. LT Kendal stayed in the middle of the living room to cover her and LCDR Chase.

A noise came from the kitchen and Summers went to a knee with her pistol covering the doorway. Chase turned to cover the same doorway with her own KP8 and Kendal covered them with her KMP7. "Damn it Mister Angel did you have to break the glass of that window? I found a key under that rock," said a familiar voice to Capt Summers from the kitchen.

In the kitchen Commander Joyce Summers commanding officer of the TCS AUGUSTUS an AGRIPPA-Class Destroyer Escort looked around feeling at home in it. She looked over at the man who called himself Angel as he cautiously looked around the interior of the kitchen and checked the attached pantry. Next he checked the door leading to a stairway going down. "Sorry Commander Summers, I didn't know that a key was kept under that rock."

Angel looked around his heightened hearing listening to four other heartbeats besides that belonging to Joyce Summers who somehow thought she was the Captain of the Starship AUGUSTUS. He also smelled Buffy, Dawn, Cordelia Chase, and Harmony Kendall. He put his hand up as he noticed Joyce about to say something else. She stopped before she uttered a word. "We're not alone ma'am," he said as he silently strode to the doorway leading into the living room – dining room combination. He passed a decorative mirror as he went into the next room and Joyce let out a sharp surprised gasp of air seeing no reflection cast in the said mirror.

Just what is Mister Angel Joyce wondered to herself as he passed into the next room only to be shot by three weapons held by the three TCN personnel she saw in the reflection in the mirror. He went to the floor sliding down the wall below the mirror, but left no streaks of blood. Joyce thought then that the other TCN personnel must have been using tranq rounds. "Hold your fire! I'm Commander Joyce Summers, commanding officer of the TCS AUGUSTUS and I'm coming out of the kitchen!" she yelled as she holstered her own KP8 gauss pistol.

Stepping over the inert form of Angel Joyce saw her eldest daughter, a Captain in the Terran Confederation Marine Corps and two officers of the Terran Confederation Navy. One wore the uniform of a Naval Medical Officer and the other a Naval Communications Officer. Captain Buffy Summers wore combat utilities in urban camouflage pattern, a tactical armored load bearing vest, a ballistic helmet, and assault boots. She held a KP8 on CMDR Summers, but a KG56A3 was on a single point bungee sling to her right its barrel barely touching the flow in Buffy's crouched position. Joyce took a glance down at Angel he was unconscious for now, but by the number of darts in his chest the creature must have taken enough of the sedative in the tranq rounds to put an elephant to sleep. "Ok so Mister Angel isn't dead, but young lady why are you here and not out tracking down the Vilani Marines who've landed here?"

Capt Summers, umm… Buffy as her mother sometimes called her even now swallowed hard then said, "Mom we came here seeking a place to regroup. Something happened out there and I think the Vilani may have had a secret weapon with them when they landed their troops here. All I know is my wrist comp says it's now 19:55 on 31 October 1997. When we landed in Sunnydale after the Strike Cruiser Group destroyed that Vilani CRURON (Cruiser Squadron) it was 18:00 31 October 2280."

Capt Summers then looked out the open front door into the street and said, "Out there right now it's utter chaos. Somehow thousands of small aliens, perhaps alien children are running amok terrorizing the citizens of this town. What Marines I had or we have found are working to contain the civil disturbance. We came here to find a place to set up a headquarters and to use as an aid station." She nodded out the door again saying, "I've been in contact with Commander Rosenberg and she's bringing a squad of Marines and another of Ships' Crew from the INTREPID she's gathered together. Also Captain Harris says from what he can tell he's the ranking TCN officer present and he and his Marines are reconning this direction trying to find as many people as they can to get to a safe area."

CMDR Summers nodded at her daughter's report and said, "I found myself and some of my officers and crew in an art gallery downtown. The costume shop across the street looked like it took a hit by an antiship missile. Nothing's left there but a crater." Then she looked down at Angel who was now coming around from being doped up by the tranq rounds. "Mister Angel here found us and after I told my people to get in contact with the AUGUSTUS' AI Octavian. Mister Angel brought me here saying we perhaps could find someone who could help us figure out what was going on."

The sound of two pairs of footsteps coming down the stairs leading up to the second level of the house drew everyone's attention to the stairway. Two individuals were coming down one dressed in a black leather duster like coat, blue jeans, and a black t-shirt with bleached blond spiked hair and the other was First Sergeant Dawn Summers of the Terran Confederation Marine Corps and senior NCO of the 234th Ship's Security Company. The bleached blond male had Dawn's KP8 and was holding her with his off hand in a manner that if he wanted to he could break her neck enough to kill her. There on her neck also was a bloody bite and red streaks were trailing down the corners of his mouth. "Don't worry I didn't drain the Nibblet," he said as he covered everyone in the room with the pistol. "She'll live if I let her and no I haven't turned her either. Something tells my I shouldn't even try." His London East End accent seeped through as he spoke.

Spike looked at the four women then at the prostate Angel. He was coming around from the hits of the tranq rounds that three of the four must have shot him with. If it wasn't for his involvement with a group of Traveller's players some human, some Vampire and some others just humanoid demons he wouldn't have been able to tell just what Dawn Summers was nor how to operate the KP8 he liberated from her. Damned Terran Confederation Boot Neck he thought as he glanced at the young woman he held in his grip. "Oy, I see you shot my grand sire. Must 'ave tranq rounds in your gauss pistols; I bet granddad will have a serious hangover after this. Oy, don't looked so surprised I've played Traveller and know of the tech."

In the game he took part in back in Boston in the late seventies and early eighties he was a Free Trader and even had a Far Trader, the Drusilla he commanded transporting blood products to isolated Vampire colonies in the Imperium. Captain Jeremiah Blood was his character's name. When he wasn't ensuring the safe transport of the sunlight challenged from one world to another or bringing the contents of hijacked blood products to those isolated colonies of vampires he was raiding small merchant ships and taking their crews and passengers for food. Needless to saw he was on the Imperium's most wanted list in that game.

That game was played on neutral ground and the demon who ran the bar forbade vampires and other demons from feeding on his human clientele. Her methods of enforcement were enough to dissuade even William the Bloody. It helped to have connections with super-secret agencies and groups who could make demon and vampire problems just disappear. Spike maybe a blood thirsty killer, but also he had a strong sense of self-preservation so he never pushes things to the point where he could be dusted. Also somewhere deep within him he had the original William Pitt's sense of right and wrong nagging at him constantly. Of the Scourge of Europe though at the time he was the deadliest of the four he also wasn't the most sadistic. That was Angelus well before he became Angel and was cursed with his soul.

He looked at the Slayer knowing that she wasn't at all the Slayer now, but somehow he didn't want to risk letting her get close to him with that boarding cutlass she had in a back hanger scabbard. One thing he knew from playing Traveller was that the damn Boot Necks no matter whether it was the Terran Confederation ones of the Interstellar Wars era or even the Imperial Marines of the Third Imperium they were really good with those damned cutlasses. The Space Marine version of Buffy looked to be even more dangerous than her regular self. He just didn't want to take the chance tonight finding out just what would happen to him if they tangled.

"Now I'm going to leave through your front door where I'll leave Nibblet to the tender mercies of your Doctor there and I'll go. We'll meet again Slayer and Boot Neck or not we'll do the Tango of Death until either you or I are left standing." He walked down the steps one at a time frog marching Dawn as he spoke until he was at the foot. Then he used the young Marine First Sergeant as a human shield while he made his way to the front door. Another thing Spike never went back on his word. He knew vamps who would say anything to get out of a bad situation and then turn on those they dealt with once they thought they were in the clear. All his fights with Slayers were clean ones the two he's had so far. He never unlike Angelus tricked his meals he was up front with those he fed on even if he didn't drain them or turned them. Unlike his own sire he knew just how to take only what he needed to survive and he only killed those who he learned would be worse than himself if he let them live or even turned them.

Spike reached the door and dropped the unconscious form of Dawn Summers to the floor just inside. At the opening he said, "From what I learned from drinking from Nibblet Slayer you had best keep her safe. The world depends on you to do so. If not there is a Hell Goddess coming who will use her to end this world and all the others just so she can try to get back to her own nightmare. Keep Nibblet safe and I be seeing you around. Perhaps we could even tango for a while." With that said he turned and faster than most humans could keep track he was gone running down the street toward his safe house.

Angel woke up from the sedative induced sleep at that time and Spike was gone before he could get to his feet. Dawn was lying on the floor near the front door. "What happened?" he asked then he looked down seeing small hypodermic darts in his chest, "What did you shoot me with? I didn't hear gunshots."

LCDR Chase answered, "A person named Spike had First Sergeant Summers as a hostage as he came down those stairs and said something about you being his grandsire. He also said he knew of our tech from playing some game called Traveller. As for what happened to you we shot you when we saw you sneaking into this room from the kitchen. Oh and this Spike left through the front door and ran toward Sunnydale's industrial district." She looked at the dark spikey haired man with the pale almost death like complexion and asked, "Just what are you and Spike?"

Before the man CMDR Summers called Angel could speak CAPT Harris and a surprised to be alive CMDR McNalley came through the front door. Harris turned to his late First Officer or Executive Officer and said, "Jesse go out and see to the perimeter most of the people in here saw you die back during the first phase of the Battle of the Three Suns. We don't need this operation slowed down by unwieldy questions at the moment." CMDR McNalley nodded and went out to see to the security perimeter thrown up as he, CAPT Harris and the platoon of Marines they gathered arrived on the block where this house stood. Outside at each end of the block a squad set up a check point and out front a third squad joined the one already on scene to build a perimeter around the house front and back.

Then CAPT Harris turned to the others, the upper thirty something man looked over his younger officers and the forty-something commander of the only one of his SCG to make it through whatever event the Vilani triggered after their attempted raid on Earth. He saw the civilian in a dark sports coat, shirt and jeans with dark spikey hair and a pale complexion trying to explain what's going on and said, "Yes Mister just what are you?"

"Angel," said the man and he added, "no Mister, just Angel." He looked at an older more mature version of the boy Alexander Harris he knew also as Xander. "I am a vampire and have been since I or I should say Liam my host had the misfortune of running into the vampire mistress and my sire Darla. That was over two hundred years ago."

"Well Angel just what is going on? Why are we all here in the Twentieth Century and not in the late Twenty-Third?" asked Harris.

"Well the total tale is best told by Mister Rupert Giles while in his library at Sunnydale High School, but I'll give the quickest and shortest answer," Angel said. "Here in this dimension magic works and those like me with a supernatural state of being are sensitive to it. The man who owned the costume shop across the street from the art gallery owned by Commander Summers' host cast a very strong spell that altered many of the people in this city into their costumes. Before I could do something about the shop exploded like a bomb went off. We'll have to go to the High School's library to double check, but I think that you all may have to wait for the spell to run its course before you return to who you were originally."

That was when CAPT Harris re-contacted the INTREPID's AI Alice. Alice spoke back and since Harris had his communicator on speaker mode everyone in the room could hear his talk with her. "Alice do we have any robots that can pilot either an AC-230 or an SB-217?"

After a brief pause Alice came back saying, "We do, but I have detected Naval Aviators Lieutenant Kara Thrace, Lieutenants Junior Grade Margaret Edmondson, Faith Lehane, and Jean Barolay. They are the only four biological Fleet personnel currently on the INTREPID."

Harris nodded hearing that news then looking at his wrist comp where the communicator was built in as part of the device he said, "Have them suit up and bring down four SB-217s. Have them track my wrist comp's transponder. That way they will know where to land their ships. Tell each of them to take a Bot as a copilot and I want four SB-217s."

"Affirmative Captain Harris, I have the flight maintenance bots prepping four SB-217 Comanche Ship's Boats of SBM-777," Alice said then asked, "Will there be anything else?"

"Yes has there been any sign that the INTREPID or the AUGUSTUS has been detected by groups on the ground?" Harris asked.

"Yes Captain Harris," Alice replied and said, "A Major General George S. Hammond of the US Air Force is trying to contact us. I will redirect his call to your commlink."

Before he could tell the ever efficient AI not to a second window opened up next to the one he was talking to her holographic from on. In that window stood a late middle aged man with a bald head and a physic like he rarely had time for doing physical fitness training anymore. He had two five point stars on each of the shoulder boards on the epaulets of his pale blue dress shirt.

"Major General Hammond I presume?" CAPT Harris said then added, "I'm Captain Alexander Harris of the Terran Confederation Navy and the Commanding Officer of the Terran Confederation Ship INTREPID and now it seems Acting Commanding Officer of Detachment One of Strike Cruiser Group One Hundred." The man looked at him and nodded.

"Captain Harris are you from Earth and if so from when?" Maj Gen Hammond asked.

"Yes, General we are and from what I can gather we're from about two hundred eighty three years in your future," Harris replied. "However in our time Earth is called by its Latin name Terra."

"Ok son now answer this, what is the tactical situation in Sunnydale at this time?" Hammond asked and waited for Harris to answer.

"Sir as near as we can tell the alien forces we were dealing with may have set off a temporal displacement device. However a local tells me that perhaps the current situation is the result of someone dealing with powers best left alone. According to this local named Angel a man named Ethan Rayne who ran a local costume and surplus shop somehow used costumes sold in his shop as foci for what Angel said was a spell. This supposed spell turned everyone into their costumes. I don't know if that is true or not, but I am now looking at a photograph of someone who looks like I did as a teenager standing with teenaged versions of two of my officers in front of the very house we're standing in. On that point I know that the two women in question did not grow up on the colony world I did. In fact both Captain Elizabeth Summers and Lieutenant Commander Willow Rosenberg grew up on Earth near Los Angeles," Harris said as he now stood in front of the fire place in the house looking at the photographs on the mantle.

Hammond nodded then added, "Son I have already dispatched some teams from my command to assess what is going on in Sunnydale. When they arrive I want you to work with them and get a handle on things. Also I want you to make sure your ships in orbit don't have an accident. We," Hammond looked at someone off camera at that point as if taking in information from them. "Pardon the interruption son I was just informed that two more ships were detected leaving Earth from the area of Sunnydale and are now breaking atmosphere."

Harris nodded and looked at the window with Alice in it and said, "Alice track the two ships leaving Earth's atmosphere and give me their locations and types."

This time the holographic image of Alice also appeared on the screens in the SGC's Gate Control Room. Hammond, Harris could see was startled a bit by her appearance and he let the General know about her, "General this is Alice our ship's AI. She in essence is the INTREPID. With her we can control the ship with a real skeleton crew. Which if I don't find more personnel from my ship will be what we have available and we won't be able to do much in the way of combat operations. To fight the INTREPID I need a minimum of one thousand officers and crew. To function at full capacity I need twenty five hundred. This includes a twelve hundred person Marine Expeditionary Unit. Unlike most Marine Assault Ships the INTREPID-Class Strike Cruiser can also engage in offensive ship to ship combat. However it would be best to explain the capabilities of the INTREPID after this crisis."

"Agreed son, now Alice what have you found out about those two ships breaking Earth's atmosphere?" Hammond asked the INTREPID's AI after Harris had let her know that she can talk with the General.

**Salem, Massachusetts 23:00 31 October 1997**

NCIS Special Agent Mike Franks looked at the destruction of the interior of the living room or parlor as it would have been called in the century the Dormer house had been built. The central hallway had also seen a battle, but he was holding a teenaged girl's book bag with an ID card holder clipped to a D-Ring on the side. The holder held a Salem High School student ID for a Faith Lehane. "Probie!" he yelled out to get Gibb's attention.

In a very short time his partner Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs whom he just called Gibbs was standing next to him saying, "What's up Boss?" Gibbs' eyes were already locked onto the picture of the auburn haired teenaged girl on the ID card. Franks could already see the burn in his partner's eyes. It was the scary sort of burn that said Gibbs would hunt down the perpetrator who did all this to the ends of the Earth to wreak out justice for the late Lieutenant Commander and her now obviously missing adopted daughter. Franks had seen the remains of LCDR Dormer and even he swore not to give up the search until the monster that did that was dealt with. Most likely with him and Gibbs on the case there won't be anyone to bring back for trial.

What was done to Diana Dormer was worse than what that Mexican drug lord had done to Gibbs' family and Franks saw the look in the younger man's eyes and knew that this monster was as good as dead. Franks didn't care he felt the same way. As he looked at Gibbs Ducky came in and from the NCIS ME's expression and body language he wanted to talk with the two agents away from the local LEOs and their ME. Keeping Faith's book bag Mike took Gibbs and Ducky into a corner of the parlor where they wouldn't be overheard if they kept their voices low. Mike had an idea just what Ducky was about to tell them.

Mike could have gone his whole NCIS career without his previous life entering into it. Now he had to put aside his NCIS special agent hat and put on his Watcher's one. He wasn't affiliated with the British branch of the ancient order and the North American branch had a dislike for the way the senior one ran things. Now Mike had seen all he needed to. This wasn't some human with a passion for the sadistic this was a Vampire attack. Upon seeing the picture of Faith and Dormer's body Mike knew just what the real relationship was between Dormer and Faith. Dormer was Faith's watcher. Faith was a potential and Franks had a tough duty to do now. Shannon and Kelly weren't dead. No Shannon and Kelly had been rescued at the last moment before getting into the vehicle with the NIS agent guarding them.

As Mike had been briefed by the Royal Watchers' Council Liaison to the North American Watchers' Council Shannon and Kelly had been switched out by magically made clones created by one of the more powerful members of the Coven of Devon. The woman and girl who died in the SUV were in essence Gibbs' wife and daughter, but they were just magically created genetic copies. The real wife and daughter were put with a Watcher of the North American Council who in the long run was a fool. The man dropped from the scene with his new wife and daughter and it wasn't until Merrick of the Royal Council that anyone had contact with her again. By that time she was called Buffy and was as Valley Girl as they came.

Mike's heart was tearing at the inside as he looked at Ducky and nothing had been said yet. The look he tossed at Ducky basically said, "It's your job tell him." He then looked at his partner and friend seeing a confused look on Gibbs' face as the younger man began to realize something secret was about to be said.

Ducky nodded and began saying, "Jethro the world is older, far older than most people know and it didn't start out as a paradise…"

After Ducky and Franks had briefed Gibbs on the truth of the world and the existence of the Watchers Council and its branches as well as the slayers including one Buffy Summers Franks saw first anger, then confusion, sadness and finally resolution cross his friends face. Gibbs looked at his two friends and held their eyes with his saying, "I'm in. We don't apprehend this Kakistos we kill it, right?"

Both Franks and Ducky nodded and Ducky said, "Yes Jethro we kill it or die trying." With that the Diana Dormer file was placed in NCIS' version of the X-Files which Ducky kept in a secret locked cabinet in a high security room in the NCIS headquarters in D.C. The agents took Dormer's body back to D.C. and Ducky's morgue and then they began to track down those associated with Kakistos.

This case would at times take a back seat to regular NCIS related crimes, but they always kept an eye and ear out for what happened to Faith Lehane and to the monster that killed Lieutenant Commander Diana Dormer. It was on their return to Washington that the Director took them into his office and initiated a secure system so they could speak frankly about the case. The Director placed Kakistos on the NCIS wanted dead list and he was given a priority so high that only he and the other three in the office with him would have access to his file and all information related to the case. The case would remain active until the demon was slain. The Next day things would change again.

**Flight Deck TCS INTREPID 20:00 Hours PST 31 October 1997**

Faith sat in the pilot's seat of one of the four SB-217s they were piloting down to the surface. The Super Stallion sized shuttlecraft and a major workhorse of the Terran Confederation Navy was tugged to an aircraft elevator to be lowered to the Launch Deck of the INTREPID. All Ship's Boats, Assault Craft, and Fighters carried on the Fighting I could fit into the launch tubes of the Launch Deck. That was one major difference between the Terran Confederation Navy and the Colonial Fleet. Like the US Navy the TCN believed all is carrier borne aircraft should be catapult launched and the TCN used tractor arrays like the USN used tail hooks and arrestor cables.

In many ways the SB-217C Comanche was the workhorse of the Terran Confederation Navy it was a cross between the CH-53E Super Stallion and the C-2A Greyhound just as the AC-230A Arapaho which replaced the earlier AC-220 series Buffalo Assault Craft was similar in function to an LCVP Higgins' Boat crossed with an MV-22 Osprey. With these small craft and the LVGPs (Landing Vehicle Gravitic Personnel) the INTREPID was the striking punch of the TCN's Alligator Navy. The LVGPs or GravTracks did the same work the AAV-7s did for the United States Marine Corps only for the Terran Confederation Marine Corps and the Flight Deck and Hangar Deck had space for fifteen of the LVGPs, four M-34 Schwarzkopf Medium Grav Tanks, six M-888 Gravsled mounted 100 mm railgun systems, six M-887 Ammo Gravsleds, eight M-353 81 mm electromag mortar sleds, and sixteen Light Armored Grav Carriers or LAGCs (each mounting a 40mm VRF Gauss Cannon.) To Faith an INTREPID-Class Strike Cruiser could lay in a lot of hurt on anyone making war on the Confederation.

Faith's reflections on the abilities of the INTREPID-Class Strike Cruiser were interrupted as the automated tug system put her into a launch tube on the Launch Deck. Behind the Ship's Boat the interior door of the tube closed and on her computer and communications display screen on the Pilot's control panel a countdown was in progress. The seconds ticked by until suddenly the electromagnetic catapult shot her down the tube at hyper sonic speeds. She was glad the pilot's chair of the SB was an acceleration couch. She was pushed and pulled back into it from the G forces applied to her by the cat shot.

The SB cleared the forward end of the launch tube and the nose of the INTREPID going fast enough to break the sound barrier had this been an atmospheric launch. About the five kilometers from the nose of the ship Faith took control of the SB and turned it toward Earth. Below her she saw the California coast and the lights of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Only small wilderness areas broke the sea of lights below. These were the tops of the mountains of the Coast Range not engulfed in the urbanization of the valleys and the rural areas of Sunnydale and Santa Barbara counties. Near her destination of Sunnydale only the east edge of Sunnydale and the west edge of Santa Barbara touched in a nearly unbroken river of light. Sunnydale's lake of light was broken here and there by small islands of darkness where parks, school yards or cemeteries broke the surface of the inundation of the illumination of the Edison's invention.

Like Starbuck, Racetrack and Red, Nightshade otherwise known as Faith Lehane LTJG TCN Aviation flew her Comanche toward the patch of dimly lit ground occupied by the Sunnydale High School football and soccer fields. For safety's sake Starbuck decided to have each Ship's Boat take only have of each field. Two SB-217s would land on the soccer field and two on the football field. Though, overcast there was little to no turbulence for their flight once they broke atmo. Faith enjoyed the fact that the SB-217 used contra-gravity lifters and thrusters to maneuver through the air and though it had small triangular wings with stabilizer fins at the tips it was the CG lifters and thrusters that kept her bird airborne. The CG technology also kept her ride comfortable along with the inertial dampeners. The acceleration couches for the pilot, copilot, and Crew Chief-Cargo Master-Mechanic were a redundancy for just in case the CG and inertial dampening equipment failed.

Once she was over the west fifty yards of SDHS' football field Faith vectored her thrusters to ease her landing and extended her landing gear. Landing like a Harrier Jet or a Helicopter the Comanche sat down in the well-manicured grass of the west half of the field. She sat the controls to allow for a cold start or an emergency hot start. Then she checked her external sensors to see if there were any hostiles around. The passive and active sensors showed the area was clear of anything larger than a stray dog. Still after she unfastened her safety harness she checked the loads of her KP8 and her KPM7. She also adjusted her combat knife to allow for easy access. Then she set all the hatch controls to be activated by the remote piloting controls of her wrist comp.

At the rear hatch-cargo ramp Faith waited using her HUD on the visor of her vaccsuit's helmet to check to see that the coast was still clear. Seeing only the other three members of VFA-132 to make it from the original dimension or timeline to this one she steeped off on to the natural turf of Sunnydale High's main outdoor athletic field. Faith smiled as she had memories of being both a star Pyramid player in the Colonies and the quarter back of her High School through the Annapolis campus of the Terran Confederation Navy's Academy's football teams. In the Twenty-Third Century if you were physically able to play the sport or work the job you choose it didn't matter the sex of your birth. The same could be said about the Colonies just before the Cylon Holocaust. As she walked from the rear of her ship after closing the rear ramp and setting the security codes and measures she smiled thinking that she loved her life in the Terran Confederation most of her three lifetimes.

The four pilots formed up into an ad hoc fire team keeping a 360 degree lookout for trouble. They walked in a diamond pattern with Starbuck at point, Nightshade on the port flank, Racetrack on the starboard with Red on drag. They all had their KPM7s at the ready in case something attacked them. They were to meet CAPT Harris and the remnants of the Shore Party in the Sunnydale High School Library where Lieutenant Commander Jana Kalderash had already set up a forward headquarters. According to a communication from the Captain there was a local civilian who could help liaise and serve as a local guide for the Marines and Starmen of the INTREPID and AUGUSTUS. Also a local military command called Stargate Command was sending some reinforcements as the more immediate military commander refused to let the soldiers, airmen, Marines, and sailors stationed at the local military base leave that facility's perimeter even to assist the now highly overtaxed local authorities.


	2. Chapter 2

34

AN: This is a reboot of Chapter Two, I've corrected some timeline errors pointed out to me and I've rewritten Col. O'Neill's last few scenes including how they finally get to Sunnydale. Still left it hanging a bit, but I had to have someplace to begin Chapter Three.

Chapter Two

Sunnydale High School Library 22:00 Hours PST 31 October 1997

Lieutenant Kara Thrace, Lieutenants Junior Grade Margaret Edmondson, Faith Lehane, and Jean Barolay stood in the open door of the Library of Sunnydale High School. They had been escorted in by six female soldiers wearing TCMC tactical armored load bearing vest over TCMC Utilities. Five of them were armed with KG56A3 Gauss Assault Rifles. Of those five, two were armed with KG56A3s equipped with an underbarrel KAG36 25mm electromagnetic grenade launcher. The sixth female Marine carried a KMG4 Gauss Light Support Weapon. Kara's eyes also registered that each of the Marines carried a sidearm. From the grips sticking out of the tops of the tactical leg drop holsters the pistols were KP8 Gauss Pistols.

Staff Sergeant Napple Baenrahel of the TCMC's 234th Ship's Security Company's Second Squad First Platoon looked at the new comers into the Library that Lieutenant Commander Jana Kalderash had set up as a field headquarters for operations here on Earth. She saw at once these were four of the pilots from VFA-132's Flight A, so these four were Starbuck, Racetrack, Nightshade, and Red. "Great look what the cat drug in, Starbuck and her three tavern wenches," SSgt Baenrahel said as she opened her visor. "You four rivvin jalin might as well join us here in waiting Captain Harris and the rest of those who were snagged from our timeline are about a half hour road march away in the conditions out on the streets."

LT Thrace saw that the woman was one of a handful of aliens in the crew of the TCS INTREPID. Most of the non-humans were in the TCMC and were either members of the 234th SSC or the MEU assigned to the Fighting I. This woman and her five Marines were all from the rimward colony of Sanctuary. Sanctuary or Nec'Perya in their language was a planet inhabited by a race or rather sub race of humanoids calling themselves the Miyeritari. From what Thrace could remember their colony was discovered during the Fifth Interstellar War by a Terran Confederation Navy expedition seeking a way around the Vilani Ziru Sirka. During the previous wars the Confederation still looked for places to expand that didn't encroach upon Vilani Space. Yet since the Vilani viewed all known human space as theirs it was hard to call off the wars. Peace turned out to be that time between the wars when both sides retooled, rebuilt, and reloaded.

Now Napple looked at the Rivvin women and asked, "Are you our rides off this rock?" She and her squad mates, well the fire team she assembled from members of her squad and platoon were all from Nec'Perya. She was born in Nec'Perya Che'el or Sanctuary City. Growing up in the squalor of Nec'Perya Che'el's Lower Westside, also called the Port District or the Cesspool left Napple three choices to rise above the muck.

Choice One was to join the priestesses of Eilistraee. The worship of Eilistraee and to a lesser extent her brother Vhaeraun were the main faiths of Nec'Perya. The Church of Eilistraee unlike the underground Church of Lolth was more accepting of worship of other gods than its matron. Despite the fact that the Church of Vhaeraun attracted females to its priesthood most Jalin of the Nec'Peryan Miyeritari became Moon Dancers or the priestesses of Eilistraee. Napple wasn't religious enough to seek either road to serve the faithful of Nec'Perya Che'el. So she didn't enroll in the seminaries of either faith practiced by her people.

The second choice was to join one of the Thieves' Guilds that ruled the underworld of the Cesspool. Many of Napple's friends or abbilen took that route and many were now either in prison or dead. She had been a rogue of sorts during her youth and it was getting caught by the police as an accessory to a rather famous heist in Nec'Perya Che'el's wealthiest district that got her put on to the path of the third choice open to Cesspudlians. That was enlist in the Terran Confederation Marine Corps or go to prison.

It was this third path that Napple took and later convinced many of her sister Cesspudlians to take as well. She found herself in the TCMC. She was old enough of a Miyeritari to have seen nearly all the Eighth Interstellar War and now she was on her second one with the Ninth. To her now the Corps was her homeworld though she visits Nec'Perya from time to time on her leaves, she never returns to settle permanently. Actually she would rather settle here on Earth in one of the Drow enclaves. The Drow of the Earth or Terra she knew were descended from immigrants and a few other worlds where Drow were found by the Terrans. It was the Terrans that gave her a break and thus she saw Terra or Earth as her home now for when she leaves the Corps.

Earlier at Ethan's Costumes and Unique Surplus 1530 Hours PST 30 October 1997

Katherine Wexford, Gwen Ditchik, Aura, Aphrodesia, Shanice and the new member of their little clique followed Cordelia and Harmony into the only remaining costume shop in Sunnydale. As the two senior members of the Cordettes had lost a bet with that geek Xander Harris and were dressing up as their characters from the Traveller game once played in the library at the high school, but in the last several month played in the loft of this very store.

The rest of the Cordettes at first didn't find anything that suited them until it was Katherine or Kate who suggested after looking over the outfits for Drow worshippers of the goddess Eilistraee and uniforms for them to be Terran Confederation Marines. The crossover of genres included the purchase of three sets of TCMC utilities in their sizes, a set of TCMC Dress Blues and one of Dress Greens. The girls also purchased the medallions that said they were worshipers of Eilistraee, an Elven longsword each, a TCMC KaBar Combat Knife; some rather shear Drow clothing themed on the styles one would find amongst the Moon Dancers and other followers of the Lady of the Dance, and the weapons and armor of TCMC ship's security Marines. These included airsoft replicas of weapons representing the KG56A3 GAR, the KAG36 UBEMGL, and the KP8 gauss pistol. It seems from what Mr. Rayne the proprietor of the shop told Katherine rather than the standard cutlasses that the TCMC Marines carried the Marines recruited from the world called Nec'Perya carried their native swords.

Kate wondered about this and asked, "Why would space Marines carry old fashioned weapons like swords or cutlasses Mister Rayne?"

Ethan smiled, "Call me Ethan please. Every time I hear Mister Rayne I unconsciously look around for my father. Now as to why the Terran Confederation Marines or the later Imperial Marines carry swords or cutlasses in to battle in space, well guns are great on planets and with non-lethal ammunition like tranquilizer rounds will work ok in boarding actions, but there is a risk of a stray shot puncturing the bulkheads and hulls of starships, spaceships and space boats. Trust me rapid decompression is not a way to die. So like the Marines of the days of Wooden Ships and Iron Men the Marines of the Terran Confederation whose traditions come from the units of the United States Marine Corps and the British Royal Marines used to first form the TCMC use blades, boarding pikes, or bayonets and knives in boarding actions and to repel boarders." Ethan then broadened his smile as the lights came on in Kate's eyes. Then he looked over as Warren Mears, the Wells brothers, and Jonathan Levinson started to look over the clothing and uniforms that either corporate merchant Spacers or independent Free Traders would wear. Kate's eyes followed his and she saw Mears' little group of nerds picking over outfits to dress as human Free Traders. "Well it looks as if some other customers need some assistance. Thanks for talking with me Miss Wexford," Ethan said as he excused himself from her and went over to talk to Warren, Tucker, Andrew and Jonno.

Still in the shop Aphrodesia came up alongside her and said, "You know Napple we could have dressed up as Drow Free Traders." The auburned haired teenager and one of the group who was a true friend to both Kate and their leader Cordelia also looked over at the soon to be officers and crew of the Merchant Vessel LEONIDAS. Kate just smiled as her little secret was that she too played in Harris' Terran Confederation Campaign which also crossed over with his DnD Forgotten Realms based campaign. Napple Baenrahel was her Drow TCMC Staff Sergeant. The Nerd Herd played the crew of the MV LEONIDAS and a certain to the public bully of a Sunnydale High School Foot Ball team Quarterback played a certain female Lieutenant Commander from the TCN's Exploration and Communications Command or EXCOMCOM. Yes Larry Blaisdell when not living up to his image as the piggish bullying lead Quarterback of their varsity squad played a female scout. On game nights he even dresses for the role. His gender bending was all their little secret.

A Higher Plane of Existence Time Indeterminable

Janus was beside himself as his plan was coming together. So far his help given freely without reservations or strings attached to his priest Ethan Rayne allowed his petitioner to gain access to weapons, equipment, costuming and dress styles from three timelines of the Traveller universes, the more recently show one of the Trek universe, multiple Dungeon and Dragons base timelines especially that of the Forgotten Realms he allowed another priest of his to write about, and of course his favorite the Doctor Who universe. "Perhaps there will be a rebirth of the race of Time Lords out of this," Janus thought as he watched over Ethan and his patrons through his scrying mirror.

Janus had shared his plans with only a select few of the ascended beings amongst the Olympians, Aesir, and the Pantheon of the Forgotten Realms. Standing with him were Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, Apollo, Mercury, Thor, Ares, Tyr (both of them: the Norse God and his Faerûn counterpart), Helm, Shar (though the Faerûnian Tyr looked at her askance), Eilistraee and Vhaeraun (he just tossed venomous looks at Tyr as he held his love Shar's hand tighter and lovingly). When the servants of the Creator let some of the lessor ascended take over watch on the planet Earth no one suspected that the Powers that Be would neglect their charge and work with the Senior Partners and others from the Nine Hells and the Abyss to only maintain a balance on this world of the Prime Material Plane.

Mercury spoke first saying, "Janus do you think this will work?" He watched as the Blond Slayer and her fraternal twin sister selected uniforms, weapons, armor and gear for Terran Confederation Marines. Janus nodded as he looked down at the Slayer knowing that with his aid and that of Thor, both Tyrs, Ares and Helm the new version of the Slayer will be able to defeat even the most powerful of the Tanar'ri or Baatezu. The Fiends of the Hells and the Abyss would find this version of the Slayer to be a very formidable foe indeed.

Mars also known as Ares smiled too as he stood watching. Like his niece Athena and Apollo's sister Artemis he wanted the Earth not only to defeat their worldly enemies, but their other worldly ones too. Besides those who kept trying to access the planet and this plane via the Hellmouths there were the Ori out there who will one day find where the Alterans had escaped to. "Earth will need her Mercury you have given her and those who will rise to fight alongside her of your essence just as we all have. She will be more of the divine now than of the Infernal." Mercury nodded in reply.

Janus spoke then, "With Zeus and Odin's backing I approached the Creator with this plan. She ordered Ao to select from the gods of Abeir-Toril to assist. It seems he found a variant of Shar and one of Vhaeraun to assist us along with his sister Eilistraee. Their help is in allowing the Slayer line to manipulate shadows, portals and with Eilistraee's aid the Slayers will now be better swordswomen. Vhaeraun and you Mercury with give them speed and stealth as your gifts and the talents to make them a little roguish. The rest of us will add to the mix what we can. The two Dark Seldarine here get in exchange a rebirth of their petitioners on Earth and the lifting of the glamor the Powers forced the Creator's Church to put on all non-Fiendish and non-human races of Earth."

Smiling Janus looked over at the smallest of the gods present. These were Yondalla, Arvoreen, Brandobaris, Cyrrollalee, Sheela Peryroyl, and Urgalan. The entire Hin or Halfling pantheon had gone along with the plan to recover the Slayer Line from the Powers that Dawdle. Besides the removal of the glamor they would also have slayers of their own to deal with the undead and those who desecrate the dead. Also they would have a rebirth of their people on Earth. The Fiends had slain all of Earth's Halflings around the time of the creation of the original Slayer. The last priestess of Yondalla had given of herself in the creation of the Slayer by the Shadowmen. For the Hin and their gods this was revenge on the creatures of the Abyss and of the Hells.

Ethan's Costumes and Unique Surplus 18:00 PST 31 October 1997

It was the now time for Ethan to work his greatest work in the service of his god. He had been approached by the firm of Wolfram and Heart to temporarily disable the Slayer called Buffy Summers. Knowing exactly just who Wolfram and Heart represented on this Earth Ethan reported to Janus their plan and offer. Janus told him to precede with the service, but that the divine powers have decided to coopt the spell for their own needs. Smiling as he opened the cash register, pulled it drawer and gathered up the checks and credit receipts underneath he went to his office and workshop to go over the day's proceeds before doing his duty to Janus. Smiling still he was most pleased that he had done so well. This year's take for the sale and rental of costumes more than paid for the spell components expended on this transmutation about to commence.

After he locked away his receipts and take for deposit in his account at Bank of America in the morning he set up his portable alter to Janus. He went about lighting candles and turning off the artificial lighting in his office. He sat in a circle of protection as he began his ritual. As he said his devotions to Janus he cut the palms of his hands with a ceremonial dagger. Using the his blood he painted his eyelids like a woman using eye shadow as he said his entreaties to his god.

The Higher Plane Time indeterminate

Janus looked at his fellow Divinities and said, "The show is about to begin. Did you bring the popcorn Athena my girl? Who brought the wine and ale?" There were days the other Gods took Janus' strange since of humor in stride and others they just had to groan and this time they all played along for they were all in this up to their godly eyebrows. Various treats and beverages began to appear as everyone took a seat on a cushion on Janus' floor. The widescreen scrying mirror Janus loved now showed his priest on Earth channeling their host's powers as well as their own.

Ethan's

Ethan now looked up to the ceiling over his head, but his eyes weren't seeing the lath and plaster surface above him, no they were looking beyond to the Heavens. "Chaos, I remain, as ever, thy faithful, degenerate son," he shouted as he enacted the last aspect of his spell. Then he said with a theatrical flare as he looked at his deity, "Showtime!"

A wave of energy flashed outward from the bust of Janus like the ripple caused by a stone cast into a pond. The wave went far as it interacted with those costumes enchanted by Ethan. All who bought his special costumes fell to the ground first or just converted in the midst of whatever they were doing. All across the city of Sunnydale people transformed into Free Traders, Vilani, Vargr, Zhodani, Terran Navy and Marine Corps along with later Imperial personnel, Aslan, Elves, Drow, Orcs, Halflings, etc.

The gods watched from their place above enjoying the show that when it ended would change this world of the Prime Material Plane forever and mess with the plans of so many infernal and fiendish players that only the Creator could count. But mainly it would wrest control of the Slayer Line from the Powers that Be and spoil the plans of three of the most powerful of the Baatezu known. The Senior Partners will cry for blood once they realize that the Gods usurped their plans for their own needs.

Chennault Field JFB Sunnydale approximate time 1900 Hours PST 31 Oct 1997

On the tarmac of the JFB's airbase stood four Fiery-Class Gunned or Fast Escorts. Each ship seemed to have a full or near full crew inspecting them along with five Puller-Class 300 dton Assault Ships with similar crews. There looked to be five platoons of Marines in Combat Armor doing inspections too. One saw four Interstellar Arms Medium Grav Tanks, a like number of their Light Reconnaissance Grav Tanks and twelve of their Grav APCs near the Pullers. It looked as if there were three platoons of Marine infantry plus the two Marine tank platoons.

Library SHS

Vice Admiral Rupert Giles of the Terran Confederation Navy came around first of those within. He looked around seeing a woman in the uniform of a Communications Officer with the rank of Lieutenant Commander coming around too. Near her was a troll like alien he did not recognize from his years of service in the Terran Confederation Navy. He was one of the younger Vice Admirals in the TCN, but wartime causes rapid elevation in rank. At the beginning of the Ninth Interstellar War he was just a Commander in command of a Guided Missile Destroyer. Now he was in his second year as Commander of the Sol System Defense Force with the rank of Vice Admiral.

As he stood he recognized the Lieutenant Commander with him. "Lieutenant Commander Kalderash, are you all right?" he asked as he went over to her to help her get up. The woman was in Naval Utilities wearing over them a tactical armored load bearing vest. On her right forearm was a Navy issue wristcomp. Hanging from her right side strapped to her right thigh was a tactical drop leg holster with a KP8 gauss pistol and a KMP7 gauss personal defense weapon rested on the table next to where she was rising from the floor.

Looking around he saw they were in some sort of library. When he turned his attention back to LCDR Kalderash the doors of the library flung open as six members of the Miyeritari race entered wearing TCMC issue utilities, tactical armored vests, and ballistic helmets with visors. Five of the six carried gauss assault rifles, two of those with underbarrel mounted electromagnetic grenade launchers. The sixth carried a gauss light support weapon. He knew of only one ship with Miyeritari Marines and a LCDR Kalderash serving as its Chief Communications Officer in the entire TCN Starfleet, that was the INTREPID commanded by Captain Alexander Harris.

Chennault Field

Force Captain Katerina Freilander went around checking everyone after they had recovered from whatever it was that knocked them out. She was Company Commander of Company C Second Battalion Thirtieth Marine Line Regiment Imperial Marine Corps of the Third Imperium of Man. Like most of her Marines she wore IMC issue Marine Combat Armor, but as she looked around the tarmac near the hangars she was by she saw that there were four Fiery-Class Gunned Escorts.

These were one of the oldest and most continuously used small starship designs created by Humaniti. The Fieries date back to the Interstellar Wars between the Terran Confederation and the Vilani Empire. Their modular design allowed for easy upgrading so they never fell out of use. She's personally seen models from Technology Level or Tech Level 12 down to those built with simpler Tech Level 10 components. Most Fieries were built between Imperial Interstellar Scout Service standard Tech Level 11 to 12. These were tough little starships designed for merchant fleet escort, counter-piracy, and fleet scouting missions. They were the starship fleet's answer to the system defense boats.

SHS LIBRARY

VADM Giles helped LCDR Kalderash to her feet after ordering SSgt Baenrahel to set up a defensive perimeter. LCDR Jana Kalderash looked round then she said, "I'd best contact Captain Harris to tell him we've got a Flag Officer on the ground."

Giles nodded, and with some of his native British reserve said, "Tell him he is still the operational commander on the scene. I will help with any political or diplomatic issues that arise. I don't think we're in the late Twenty Fourth Century anymore so we may need a Flag Grade to run interference with the local authorities Commander." Jana followed his glances around at the stacks of books in the library. She nodded as she spoke her agreement. He said, "When you get Captain Harris and tell him we're setting up Fleet Ground Headquarters here for now." Looking around some more he noticed that the troll like man now was getting around.

Quark couldn't for the life of him figure out why he was in a hooman library especially such an ancient one, but it was the voices of the two hooman officers in the library with him that aroused him back to consciousness. The last thing he remembered was doing his books in his office at his bar on the space station Deep Space Nine.

Chennault Field

Imperial Marine Corps Commando Force Captain Riley Finn and his team stormed across the open area between Chennault Field and Camp Nelson A. Miles the Army's Ground Forces Command side of Sunnydale Joint Forces Base. Camp Miles also was home to the Thirtieth Marine Line Regiment besides the 320th Lift Infantry Brigade of the Unified Imperial Army. FCapt Finn's team was the Command Node for the Thirtieth Marine Commando Company. With him on the four Masterson and Williams built M1151 Enhanced Armament Carrier air/ rafts were Force Lieutenants Forrest Gates and Graham Miller along with Ship Sergeant Stavros, Section Sergeant Dixon, Gunnery Sergeant Evan Sparks and fourteen other Marine Commandos who made up the 30th MCC of the 30th MLR. The Marine Commandos were going nearly as fast as the sealed air/ rafts could go safely close to the surface and in atmosphere.

FCapt Finn had hoped to get to the members of FCapt Freilander's Marine Line Company before the local MPs got there. That idiot in command of the local planetary army unit and the base had order his MPs to ensure that no one not even the so called Imperial Marines left. The Planetary Army Major General had pissed of Colonel McNamara to no end and Finn had left the Colonel steaming and cursing about the stupidity and parentage of local planetary forces.

Riley watching the hangars at Chennault Field saw the Puller-Class Assault Ships and the Fiery-Class Gunned Escorts which were their mission escorts and provided orbital artillery for the Leather Necks of FCapt Freilander's MLC standing there outside their hangars. Formed up behind the lowered ramps of the Pullers were the five platoons of Company C of the 30th MLR. Finn smiled as it seemed that Freilander already had her visitors from the 118th Military Police Company and was dressing down the Planetary Army's Second Lieutenant commanding the platoon of twenty MPs. The MPs arrived in standard internal combustion engine powered ground car versions of his enhanced armored air/ rafts.

The situation was getting explosive as Finn and the 30th MCC pulled onto the scene. "Captain Freilander is the Muddie Butter Bar giving you trouble?" Riley said as he stepped out of his air/ raft's right front hatch. He stood his full nearly six foot height and swaggered over to the Force Captain and the local Second Lieutenant. Muddie was a less than endearing term from the Imperial Marines and Army personnel stationed on this rock for the Marquesas' local troops; House Specials was another.

The House Special MP 2LT looked at him and at FCapt Freilander and said, "General Rodger Winfield Scott gave orders for all units stationed this base to remain in their quarters!" He looked at the strangely dressed Marines around him. They were wearing some sort of advanced combat armor and carried weapons way more higher tech than his M9 pistol and M4 carbine. "I was sent out to these hangars when someone in the Air Traffic Control Center got some of your pilots requesting permission to take off after they've run their preflight checks! The General wants all United States Armed Forces personnel confined to their barracks or workstations until the crisis in Sunnydale is over for their own safety sir, ma'am!" The Second Lieutenant knew he was about to go way off the beaten path here and perhaps get his and his MPs butts in a collective ringer. Yet orders were orders and they drummed that into his head at OCS back at Fort Leonard Wood.

The Marine Captain then glared at the U.S. Army Second Lieutenant then said, "I received orders from a Vice Admiral Rupert Giles to rally at the Sunnydale High School mister! I think a Vice Admiral trumps your Major General and his being an Admiral in the Planetary Navy trumps your General being in the Regional Army. You locals never seem to stop amazing me just how ignorant you are of the order of things. As an Imperial Marine Force Captain I don't take orders from either the Systems Defense Force or regional militias! I am helping Vice Admiral Giles because as of this moment I, unless Force Captain Riley here has date of rank on me, am the senior most Imperial officer present on Terra at the moment! You, you little piss ant wet behind the ears fresh out of OCS and Military Police Officers' Basic Course don't have the stones to interfere. If you elect to stop us just remember you and your MPs are only wearing Kevlar ballistic vests under your tactical load bearing vests while me and my Marines are in Imperial Marine Combat Armor made from laminated Monocrys, high density low weight ceramic plating and flexible Monocrys joints. Also our armor is sealable against nuclear, biological, and chemical attacks as well as rated to stop the largest caliber small arms munitions available on this planet and beyond. We even can use our armor as vacuum suits for attacking ships and facilities in space. No do you think we're going to back down to you and your platoon of Bruisers?"

Riley just smiled as the US Army Second Lieutenant seemed to have lost all pretense of machismo he possessed. "Lieutenant I'd advise that you contact your highers and have them contact Vice Admiral Giles. Besides we don't want an interstellar incident here that could bring Earth back under Imperial Military Rule do we?" Riley said rather pointedly as he referred to the fact that in his timeline the Earth had just regained self-rule and currently under the rule of an Earth born Solomani Imperial noble woman Marchioness Alessandra Ribeiria de Silva, a retired Imperial Army Colonel and founder of Terra's Freedom Party and former Prime Minister of the Terran Commonwealth, Earth's planetary government. He also knew that the United States of America was but one member of the Commonwealth and the most watched. Its southern states were the seat of most Solomani Party activity as was Southern California.

Captain Riley Finn also knew that the Los Angeles region had the largest presence of Imperial forces outside of Australia. From Los Angeles down to the Imperial and Commonwealth Join Forces Base San Diego between the intermittent Solomani Party led civil unrest and resurgent narcotics cartels this area was in danger of being placed back under Imperial Martial Law. Then there was the rumors that some sort of natural rift was in the area allowing transition of extradimensional aliens into this universe.

INITIATIVE BUNKER COMMAND CENTER 31 OCT 1997

Margaret "Maggie" Walsh, PhD, MD stood behind Colonel Conor McNamara watching what was turning into a total disaster. Their own project was not fully underway yet, but something occurred on the surface causing mass hysteria and a breakdown of civil authority. "Colonel, what's going on?" she asked as he continued to monitor the situation via reports from teams of observers topside.

"Doctor Walsh would you please go back to your Laboratory or your office at the University we have a situation that is currently running out of control and four of our security teams aren't responding to the alert we sent out," McNamara said. He ignored her then as a Marine, a Private First Class came up to him with a message. "Thank you son no get back to the Communications Room and be ready to bring anymore messages they have," he told the young Marine. The younger may, nearly a Boy said, "Yes sir!" and turned around and left out the OpCenter's exit.

"Colonel I'm the Director of this Operation and I'm sure our backers would want a full report and if you don't get a handle on this I am sure that Colonel Maybourne can find a person able to do the job. After all he found you to replace that incompetent oaf Colonel Haviland." McNamara turned his head to look her in the eyes. What he saw chilled him to his very core. Rumor was that Colonel George Haviland's accident wasn't so accidental. It further stated that Doctor Walsh had something to do with his predecessor's death. Nothing could be proven, but those were the rumors amongst the Field Grade Officers assigned to NID operations.

"Doctor Walsh, please go back to your experiments and leave the security of this facility to me. I am the Tactical Commander of this base and as such I will handle any threat from this evening's disturbances. So far everything is confined to the residential districts, the business district, and the club and entertainment district. It seems this town's unique nightlife prefers not to be active on this particular day. I'm not sure as to why, but I'm sure at some point we'll find out. Now you go do your job and I will handle mine," with that said he turned his back on Dr. Walsh signifying that their conversation was at an end.

JFB SUNNYDALE MAIN GATE 31 OCT 1997

The incident with the Second Lieutenant from the 118th MP Company had been rectified and now with FCapt Riley's 30th MCC in the lead with FCapt Freilander's C 2/ 30th MLR Heavy Company behind a convoy of contra-gravity vehicles waited at the main gate of the base. Just beyond the gates were Sunnydale and its small combat zone, an area of Gentlemen's Clubs, adult bookstores, and other legal and not so legal entertainments for the military personnel assigned to JFB Sunnydale. Beyond that was some of Sunnydale's light industry and commercial zones. Next came the residential districts housing the workers of the nearby factories and the city's campus of the University of California.

FCapt Riley looked out the clear durasteel armored windshield of his armored enclosed air/ raft. JFB Sunnydale was on the south side of the freeway leading into Santa Barbara. In front of Riley's air/ raft were some shambling humanoid figures. He looked through the magnification field of his combat armor's helmet and noticed that these people weren't people or rather they used to be. "Corporal Smith," he called over the communicator built into his helmet to the Marine manning the 25mm VRF Gauss Gun in the air/ raft's turret, "What do you see through your weapon's optics?"

Cpl Lawrence Smith looked through the optical sight of his weapon and cursed, "Damn sir I'm not getting any heat off of those things across the highway!" He switched to light enhanced mode from thermal imaging and saw what could have been people, but there was something odd about them. "Sir the people of that mob over there shambling and stumbling this way don't look right!" Curious Smith turned up the audio receptors of his helmet and what met his ears was both eerie and disconcerting.

"Uuuungh… uuuungh… uuuungh…" came from the mob as it slowly advanced on the front gate of JFB Sunnydale. Through his sights Smith saw something that turned his stomach and it was all he could do not to spill his guts inside his helmet. A Sunnydale cop tried to stop the mob, but the man never had a chance. Despite being armed with a 9mm automatic pistol and a twelve gauge pump shotgun he was overwhelmed and before Smith's eyes the mob rendered the cop tearing into his arms and legs with their mouths.

"Oh my God, They're eating him alive!" Smith shouted in startled dismay and anger over his commlink. Then before anyone could tell him otherwise Smith actuated the safety on his weapon and the beast spoke, "Whizzzz-Craack… Whizzzz-Craaack… Whizzzz-Craaack…" The whizzing noise was the sound of multiple 25mm depleted uranium armor piercing slugs racing down the VRF Gauss Gun's liner mass accelerator barrel. The crack heard later were those same rounds breaking the sound barrier as the raced toward their targets at hypersonic speeds. The bluish white flame at the mouth of the weapon's muzzle was the superheated air becoming plasma blooms as the bullets left the gun. "Whizzzz-Craack… Whizzzz-Craaack… Whizzzz-Craaack…" spoke the beast again as Cpl Smith continued to pour in fire upon the ever increasing mob of shambling flesh eating creatures. All FCapt Riley cold do was watch and the cop's partner armed with an M4 carbine was also overwhelmed by the mob and made a meal. The screaming of the dying woman had Riley and everyone in their air/ raft muted their external audio pickups.

In the guard booth the MPs began to fire upon the mob with their M16s, M9s, M240s, and whatever else they had available. The creatures were now so close that any indirect fire into the mass would have been danger close and risk friendly fire casualties. The night then lit up like day as four lances of fusion bolts streamed over head at the mob. Riley knew just what happened as the light fusion cannons of the light grav tanks lit up the creatures shambling towards them.

Riley opened his hatch and looked at a very frightened MP saying with all his command voice, "Soldier get your people out of here and find a better place to fort up! That guard shack won't stand a chance against these things! Now move it!" Then he slammed his hatch shut for emphasis. Looking forward he saw the creatures were already on the near side of the freeway and getting closer. He looked over to his driver and said, "Marine get us some altitude now!" The inertial dampeners of the air/ raft negated any sensation of the g-forces being applied by the rapid ascent to get above the shamblers. Riley had over the agreed upon comm frequency ordered FCapt Freilander to get her people airborne as well.

STREETS OF SUNNYDALE SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 1630 REVELLO AND SUNNYDALE HIGH SCOOL

The moaning sound had been steadily growing as the Marines and Spacers under the command of Captain Harris made their way on foot from the house that seemed strangely familiar even to him towards the local high school. VADM Rupert Giles the local Fleet Commander had established a temporary field HQ in the school's library and LCDR Kalderash informed him that a squad of Marines under the command of a Staff Sergeant Napple Baenrahel and four pilots from VFA-132 were in the library with her and the Admiral waiting for him, Captain Summers, and their Marines and Spacers. As they crossed the intersection one block from the high school he saw the source of the moaning.

Down about two blocks to the east there was a mob of stumbling, shambling, scuffing walking people that looked like they were stiffer than they should be for living persons. What not even Ethan knew before the bust of Janus blew from channeling more power than the mana battery was supposed to handle was that several of the adults and teens who bought costumes from him had purchased ones belonging to either Resident Evil, Dawn of the Dead, or Half-Life. Now many who dressed as the zombie like animated corpses of the two games and the movie were what just what they attired themselves as.

Ethan took a piece of the bust right into his forehead and another into his throat. He was dead before his body hit the floor of his shop and before the energy of the blast cremated his remains and destroyed his store. The man did not know that inclusion of a certain group of costumes had created the destruction of Sunnydale. Out on the streets the other transformed were either running for their lives or finding strongpoints to fort up in as the shamblers infested the streets and many passed on the disease that created them onto their victims, those they didn't devourer completely that is. Minutes after dying the new shamblers rose and joined the horde. Others who thought they escaped with only minor bites or scratches soon to the demise of their comrades learned otherwise.

These victims rapidly took ill, dying before the night ended then rose to kill those with them unless they were destroyed by their companions. The lucky ones were those who killed their transformed former companions and saw the risen shamblers for what they truly were and avoided getting wounded by the biting mouths and clawing hands of the monsters facing them.

The only reason the real crisis took so long to manifest itself was that most of the folks dressed as Zombies were out in the outskirts of Sunnydale and not in the central business district or the older residential districts. The energy empowering their mystically created virus also drew the shamblers toward the Hellmouth.

WAREHOUSE DISTRICT, SPIKE'S LAIR

The master vampire called Spike or William the Bloody heard the moans from outside and watched from the shadows of the warehouse's catwalk as several normal and a few non-monstrous transformed ones closed the main overhead doors and barricaded the other exits to the old building. Smiling, he couldn't help but think that these souls had trapped themselves with becoming happy meals with legs. Already his night hadn't gone as planned. Now it seemed that providence or misfortune had favored him. He didn't care which for now he had some fun and could feed before going back into the night to confront the Slayer and her Boot Necks.

What Spike didn't know was to the folks below the choice of becoming a vampire's meal or being turned was in many ways preferable to what awaited outside beyond the perceived sanctuary of the warehouse's walls. The nightmarish moaning grew deeper in its intensity as did the blood curdling screams of agonizing death coming though the broken out panes in the windows around the second story of the warehouse. "What the bloody hell is going on out there?" Spike asked aloud of no one particular as he now found his attention drawn away from his potential meals and fun.

The pounding on the rolling overhead door was sounding like a mass of sledge hammers slamming into it cushioned by padded gloves as the hundreds if not thousands of walking dead's' fists pounded the metal panels. The cacophony was deafening as the metal resisted the torture it was receiving. Yet even Spike could see the metal beginning to give as it started to bulge inwards.

Spike started to order his minions to attack when the centrally located overhead door caved to the pressure of the undead's pounding finally took its toll and the door gave way. The haunting moaning filled the cavernous chamber of the warehouse to bursting as the horde shambled in slaughtering those who attempted to take refuge within. For Spike and his spawn the scene below was like watching a train wreck crossed with a Manchester United football game. Now the undead seemed to battle the undead for the flesh and blood of the living. It was a feast of insanity and resembled a feeding frenzy more than hooliganism at a soccer match.

After thirty or so minutes the vampires overwhelmed the mindless walking dead and began a hunt of their own with Spike in the lead. "The city is ours for the taking!" he shouted as he stormed out into the night followed by his minions. Behind them were the dead and the corpses of those infected by the virus that Ethan had unknowingly released upon the world.

C130 HERCULES TRANSPORT IN BOUND TO CHENNAULT FIELD.

"Chennault Tower this is Air Force flight Sierra Gulf Two-Five-Niner do you copy?" said the Air Force Major piloting the Herc that the members of SG teams 1, 2, and 3 were flying on from Peterson AFB, Colorado. The plane was on approach from the southeast to land on runway 17 South. Already from what he could see from flying over neighboring Santa Barbara he was worried about the conditions on the ground. Uncontrolled fires could be seen burning all across the city and county of Sunnydale. The Major switched from the radio to the internal communications system and said with worry in his voice, "Colonel O'Neill can you see what's going on from your position?"

In the back cargo and passenger bay of the C130 O'Neill looked out one of the side portholes to see what he could. Down below and to the front he saw flames rising into the skies and even at the few thousands of feet the plane was at now he could hear what he thought was small arms fire, sirens screaming, and explosions. He leaned back from looking out the bubble like observation port and keyed the mike of his headset, "Yes Major I do," he then popped his head back into the bubble to take another peek, "have you raised the tower yet?"

"No Colonel and I can't raise the tower at Sunnydale's airport either," the pilot called back.

HIMS (HIS IMPERIAL MAGESTY'S SHIP) ICARUS FIERY-CLASS GUNNED ESCORT GE-2347 HOVERING OVER CHENNAULT FIELD

"This is the HIMS ICARUS calling in bound transport Air Force Sierra Gulf Two-Five-Niner we have you on sensors. Be advised control tower for Chennault Field is compromised as is the control tower and FAA traffic control for Sunnydale International Airport. Advise diverting to alternate landing field at this time. Unknown humanoid creatures have overrun the air field plus Joint Forces Base Sunnydale," said Lieutenant Simon Le Cross of the Imperial Navy commanding officer of the ICARUS.

TRANSPORT SG-259

The Major looked over at his co-pilot a female Captain and mouthed, "What?" She just shrugged looking as dumbfounded as he was. The Major keyed his mike and said, "Say again all ICARUS!"

The voice on the other end repeated what it had just said and added, "This is Lieutenant Simon Le Cross of the Imperial Navy under orders from Vice Admiral Rupert Giles from the Terran Confederation Navy Commanding Officer all Imperial, Confederation and United States Forces in Sunnydale, California. As of 2300 hours local time Admiral Giles placed Sunnydale under quarantine. The ICARUS and the other three ships of our flight have the city under overwatch. Our orders are to prevent any ground, aerial or nautical departures from or arrivals to Sunnydale. Advise contacting Admiral Giles on the following frequencies for instructions." Then LT Le Cross gave the Major the frequency for VADM Rupert Giles.

Colonel O'Neill took the information as well and then took command of the flight. "Major get me this Admiral Giles," his voice was testy as he didn't like taking orders from foreign officers on American soil and just who was this Imperial Navy and what the heck was the Terran Confederation let alone its own navy he thought as he waited.

Minutes passed and finally the Major called back saying he was patching through Vice Admiral Rupert Giles of the Terran Confederation Navy. "Thank you Major," O'Neill said. Then he cleared his throat and said, "Admiral Giles this is Colonel Jonathan "Jack" O'Neill of the United States Air Force what is the situation down there, over?"

SUNNYDALE HIGH SCHOOL LIBRARY TEMPORARY GROUND HQ VADM GILES

"Colonel O'Neill, Vice Admiral Giles here the situation Colonel is chaotic at best and a total cockup to boot. I've had my Deputy Commander a Captain Alexander Harris have the commanding officers of the combined company of Terran Confederation and Imperial Marines establish a defensive perimeter around the high school we've taken up refuge in. We have survivors of the California Army National Guard's 118th Infantry Regiment, the California Air National Guard's local detachment, the Marine's 12th MEU and the Army's 320th Heavy Brigade Combat Team as well here. We are using Imperial and Confederation fleet assets available to evacuate as many uninfected civilians to safe areas as we can. What has happened is that and you may choose to believe me or not, but enemies of Terra or Earth if you will from the future first set off some sort of bioweapon. This weapon infects is victims with a virus that first kills than reanimates its host. The creatures that rise after only a few minutes are not the hosts, but automatons controlled by the virus. The other thing that occurred was that at or around 1800 hours local on 31 October 2397 the same enemy set off a temporal displacement device. We think that besides displacing members of my Strike Cruiser Group from about 400 years from now and elements of the Third Imperium of Humaniti's Imperial Navy and Marine Corps stationed here nearly 3700 years from now some of those infected by the Vilani bioweapon were also displaced from our time. Those who were infected and displaced have begun to infect the local population of this time. Our Medical Officer advises quarantining Sunnydale County and neighboring areas because we have no clue how far this infection has spread already."

C130 CARGO BAY OVER SUNNYDALE

Col O'Neill looked out the observation bubble at the city below and his gut dropped. It seems a future enemy has taken revenge on the planet and its people here in the past or rather his present. An enemy it seemed who didn't care about the people of Earth any more than do the Goa'uld. "Carter!" he yelled out into the noisy cargo bay.

"Yes Colonel?" Captain Samantha Carter shouted back. Her eyes were wide with worry and dismay telegraphing that she too had seen what was going on below.

"Use the SATPHONE and get the General. Use a secure channel. Tell him the following: "Neptune", "Neptune", "Neptune". Then wait for authentication and tell him this phrase." O'Neill then showed her the phrase from his comsec or communications security book. Carter nodded, committed the phrase to memory and then proceeded to use the satphone to get a secure connection back to the SGC and Gen. Hammond. "Carter, Code Neptune is to let him know we're going in to investigate if this is a potential Foothold situation. When we have the intelligence we need. We'll let him know that this is a Foothold by sending a similar message with Foothold as the code word."

O'Neill then called the Major to get him the commander of the ICARUS. After a short conversation he got the ICARUS to send its Assault Craft to Edwards AFB to pick up him and the rest of those with him. He then called VADM Giles back and told the Admiral that he and his troops were part of the reinforcements being sent by his commanding officer and that the President of the United States was at this time being advised of the situation on the ground.

EDWARDS AFB, CA THIRTY MINUTES LATER

Col. O'Neill, SG-1, Ferreti with SG-2 and Reynolds with SG-3 disembarked from the rear of the C-130 just as a craft the size of an OV-22 Osprey landed fifty meters to their left down the apron in front of the hangars assigned to the SGC's Edward's AFB air wing detachment. The Assault Craft looked more like a larger version of the Lifting Body craft NASA and the Air Force experimented with back in the early and middle 1960s. It had a bubble canopy where its cockpit was, a loading and unloading ramp in front and back. Its insides were just wide enough to accommodate a platoon of troops or a couple of Humvees. There were four Marines in some sort of exoskeleton body armor standing outside split between the front and the back. A fifth person looked as if he or she was waiting on him and the SGC personnel.

O'Neill nodding in appreciation gestured with his right hand for everyone to follow saying, "Ok campers our ride's over there." Then he led off the procession to the front ramp of the Third Imperium's Imperial Navy's Assault Craft. Once they walked the half football field separating the two craft O'Neill looked at the man in the black flight suit that resembled a light weight space suit. "I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill and the people with me are my team SG-1," he pointed to Carter, Jackson, and Teal'c, "Major Ferreti and SG-2," he then gestured to the Italian American leader of SG-2 which was one of the SGC's Pararescue teams, "and Lieutenant Colonel Reynolds and SG-3." At that he gestured to LtCol Reynolds and the Marine Combat Team SG-3. Between the three teams there were twenty-two Marines, Airmen, and Civilian Contractors.

AN: I know it's cruel to leave it like this, but it seemed a good stopping place.


	3. Chapter 3

INTREPID Chapter Three

Author's Notes: Satsuma thanks for pointing out the error on the time from the future and yes TCN VADM Giles, CAPT Harris, CMDR Summers, LCDRs Kalderash, Chase, Rosenberg, LT Kendall, and TCMC Capt Summers and 1stSgt Summers are all from around 400 years in the future along with SSgt Baenrahel. Force Captains Freilander and Riley plus their Marines and the four Fiery-Class Gunned Escorts and the five Puller-Class Assault Ships are from the year IR (Imperial Reckoning) 1115 or the year CE (Common Era) 5633 or about 3700 years in the future. Yes I twisted this story with a Zombie Plague thank you Satsuma and KrisB for spotting that. And thank you too Traveler and Cyberfish thanks for reviewing. Now let's get on to the next installment.

Chapter Three

SUNNYDALE AIRPORT HANGAR 34C

The MV LEONIDAS rested on its landing struts with the personnel and cargo hatches shut tight. The crew of the LEONIDAS and some people they found including people who said that they were their parents had all made it on board just as the horde of zombies for Andrew said they were just like the creatures from the ancient movie Dawn of the Dead and related films, swarmed around their ship and now home. Warren looked out through the thick transparent armored alloy of the Bridge's view ports. The creatures were now milling around and have not tried to force their way into the ship again.

"Well it looks as if the laser cannons frying a few forced the others to back off," Captain Warren Mears owner, pilot and commander of the Hero-Class Private Merchant MV (Merchant Vessel) LEONIDAS said looking now over to his Navigator and First Officer Tucker Wells. "Damn we made it here just in time without too many casualties." He now was for the first time beginning to breathe a sigh of relief. "That was as much excitement on a planet side trip as I want for some time I tell you Tucker." He was tracking the monsters with his ventral turret's laser from his workstation as he looked out at the mob of former residents of this spaceport town just aimlessly shambling about in the hangar and on the grounds out in front of the hangar doors.

Tucker nodded then said, "Warren let's get some altitude and perhaps space between us and these creatures. I only hope that we didn't bring any aboard that were infected." Warren nodded agreeing with Tucker as he checked to see if Jonno had already started warming up the power plant and maneuver drives.

"Your brother, Andrew is checking over the people we've rescued. Lucky for us we have that cargo of provisions and supplies for that farming colony on Calgary otherwise I don't think we'd have enough to feed everyone," Warren said as he began to activate the LEONIDAS' contra-gravity lifters and use its reactionless thrusters to maneuver out of the hangar. In the large old bomber hangar he spun the ship on its central vertical axis thus letting the radiant heat bleeding from the thrusters incinerate the creatures storming in the building's main bay. "There that should clear the way for us," Warren said.

SUNNYDALE AIRPORT HANGAR 24D

LCDR Laura Blaisdell sat in the Pilot's chair on her ship's little cockpit. She commanded a FREMONT-Class Explorer. Her FREMONT was the TCS AMELIA EARHART. The 100 dton ship could be run by a single crewman like herself, but there were work stations for four if the TCN EXCOMCOM (Exploration and Communications Command) assigned enough crew for all four slots. These were Pilot/ Commander/ Communications Officer, Navigator/ Executive Officer/ Sensor Officer, Engineer, and Gunner's Mate/ Boson's Mate/ Pharmacist's Mate. The full crew would them be three Officers and a Petty Officer. The Pilot's and Navigator's seats were on the small bridge and the Gunner's Mate's and the Engineer's were aft in the Engine Room.

At the moment though Laura had all the workstations slaved to the Pilot's Workstation in the Bridge. Already she had gone over her preflights. That took up much of the last hour. She had seven people to safeguard and she didn't want them to die in a starship mishap after being saved by her from the creatures out there. No, it wasn't the little aliens running around and now mostly hiding from the others, it was the shamblers, the walking dead that she protected these few from. Her drives and power plant were in the green, her single triple light turret armed with a sandcaster, a missile launcher with ten light missiles in its magazine, and a light laser cannon were also in the green. Hull integrity was in the green. All systems according to Amelia her ship's computer, were in the green and ready for launch.

Stepping out of Amelia's small Bridge into the Ship's Lounge she saw the seven others on her ship. There were two adults and five children with her. The adults were as they said Klingons. One was a male and the other a female. Both looked like warriors. The five children ranged from eight Earth years to fifteen and were all human. "Ok I know this evening has been scary for some of you, but Lursa and Divok of the House of Qua'lon and I will protect you until we find your families."

Laura looked over at the two Klingons, one in the Klingon Imperial Navy and the other in the Klingon Imperial Marine Corps. Lieutenant Lursa of Qua'lon and her brother Sergeant Divok of Qua'lon had been on an alternate Earth according to what they told her when they met up. They weren't exactly sure of how they got here, but the last thing they remembered was walking around the Sunnydale Sinkhole and reading the role of honor of those who died in the Battle of Sunnydale.

"Then a bright flashing light engulfed us then we woke up on the streets of your Sunnydale," said Lursa as she looked at her Klingon Imperial Navy issue tricorder scanning their immediate area. She wore standard KIN issue uniform with light combat armor. She carried a Bat'leth, a D'k Tahg knife, and a KIN issue disruptor pistol. Her brother the KIMC Sergeant was similarly dressed and besides the sword, knife, and pistol also carried a disruptor rifle. Divok just nodded in agreement with his elder sister. Neither of the two members of House Qua'lon were senior members of the house or the eldest of the Patriarch's and Matriarch's children. Of the two Laura had already learned that Lursa was the eldest and Divok despite being male deferred to her for leadership. It was that she out ranked him Laura thought.

"Now let's get some things straight and in the open. For you children you have access to the entertainment and educational programs that Amelia has. You also have access to the two staterooms to your right as you look to the rear of the ship, the girls in the first one and the boys in the second. You may use the freshers and the bunks in there. Here in the Galley and Lounge there is food and drink. Mostly it's South Asian teas and South American coffees as well as water. I don't have any juices or carbonated beverages like Coca Cola or Pepsi aboard. As for Amelia's shipboard network there are workstations in each of the staterooms and here in the Lounge." Laura then looked at Lursa.

"The other thing is this is not my Sunnydale," Laura said then. "My Sunnydale is nearly four hundred years in the future from now. If you check your chronometers on your portable computer sensor thing there you'll see that Lieutenant."

"Now Lursa, I can run this ship alone and have on many occasions, but having a co-pilot helps. From what you told me you were a Navigator and a Sensors Officer on your last ship, yes?" Laura watched as Lursa nodded. "Good you can familiarize yourself with the Jump Space and Normal Space navigation systems of Amelia. Now I don't normally allow foreign personnel to have access to ship's systems, but I need the help and if we want to reunite these children with their parents we're going to have to work together."

Divok looked thoughtfully at the Human Naval Officer. Already this evening he learned that the Terran Confederation Navy was nothing like the Federation's Starfleet. In fact Lieutenant Commander Laura Blaisdell seemed to be more aggressive than the average Starfleet officer. She also carried projectile weapons that used magnetic pulses to propel their ammunition. She favored a formidable set of blades in her bastardsword and knife. Then there was her shortsword for tight quarters like in this small ship. From his observations alone he saw that this Terran Confederation was as advanced as the Klingon Empire and the Federation in many areas, but primitive in others. Amelia was more advanced than any Klingon or Federation computer he's encountered for one.

Another thing he noticed was that Laura wore an armored suit that doubled as a space EVA suit and it from basic appearances was more advanced than any he'd seen in the Federation or the Empire. After he thought over what all he'd seen so far Divok asked, "And Commander what will my duties be aboard Amelia while we wait out this crisis?" He'd worked as a Gunner's Mate on Lursa's ship a Norgh-Class Bird of Prey which at the time of their temporal abduction was using Los Angeles on Earth as its port of call for the Federation.

Laura looked at the Klingon male who looked to be about eighteen to twenty Earth years of age, cupped her chin with her right fist and thumb. Her expression was one of deep thought. Then after studying him for a few seconds asked, "So Sergeant Qua'lon what are your Starship ratings?"

Divok inhaled deeply to raise his chest and to bring attention to his metal and leather sash upon which were displayed his rank, his skill qualification badges, and his awards and decorations. For a young Klingon to have advanced from the rank of Bekk Second Class to Sergeant in as little time as he did his awards and decorations showed that it was not Family connections that won him the honor. Also the scars he wore as battle honors proved it was his prowess as a soldier and warrior of the Empire that got him to his current position. "I served as a Gunner's Mate on Lursa's last ship. I was part of the ship's troops detachment as your navy calls the ground troops assigned to a starship," Divok said very proudly.

"Lieutenant Commander Blaisdell," Amelia's feminine voice sounded over the ship's intercom system, "The creatures have broken into the hangar. I have already started flight operations and we're now floating on contra-gravity lifters. May I suggest that Sergeant Divok Qua'lon be given the same rank in the Terran Confederation Marine Corps and assigned as Ship's Security and Gunner's Mate for my weapons? Now as for Lieutenant Lursa Qua'lon I have already listed her on the Ship's Crew Roster as Executive Officer, Navigator and Sensors Officer with you as Ship's Commander, Pilot, Communications Officer and Ship's Engineer. I have the children listed as refugees until we can relocate their families. Though a synthetic lifeform I pray that we find their parents amongst the living and uninfected. Otherwise from what I've learned of this century's child welfare systems their futures can become very bleak."

The three adults one Human Female, a Klingon Female, and a Klingon Male all turned and looked at the five human children, three girls and two boys. The girls were Kassandra Chase, eight and younger sister to Cordelia Chase; Danielle Blaisdell Fifteen, who kept looking at Laura as if she was trying to figure out if she knew the Captain of TCS Amelia Earhart; and Tori Collins eleven who just stared at the insides of Amelia with fascination. Tori dressed as a NASA astronaut. Kassy as Kassandra wanted to be called wore the costume of an Elven Ranger though she had already lost one of her pointed ears in the running fight to get to the safety of Amelia. Danielle who likewise wanted to be called Dani wore an outfit like a cowboy and carried a realistic looking Winchester carbine and an equally realistic looking pair of matching Smith & Wesson Schofield Revolvers. It turned out that the guns were real enough for her to help defend their party as were Kassy's swords.

The boys were Terry Wells and Billy Turnbull. Terry Wells was fourteen. He said he was the youngest of the three Wells brothers and he wore a costume of a Free Trader. "My brothers are officers of the Merchant Vessel Leonidas owned by Captain Warren Mears," said Terry. Billy Turnbull thirteen who like Dani dressed as a cowboy and likewise his guns proved to be quite real when they had to defend themselves first against the demon and devil like aliens and later against the hordes of walking dead as Laura led everyone back to Amelia. Terry also helped with the defense of the party. He was armed with an advanced combat rifle and a pistol as well as a cutlass. "On the Leo, I'm one of the Gunners and the Cargo Specialist," Terry said when asked while they retreated to Laura's ship.

Terry's story rang true to Laura who knew that in the Terran Confederation amongst the Free Traders business was often a family affair by the Twenty-Fourth Century and it was quite possible that Terry was home schooled aboard a family owned Free Trader or Far Trader. Those small merchant ships were doing as much to expand Terran Space as was the Navy.

After Amelia warned them of the horde breaking into the hangar finally Laura looked to Lursa and said, "Lieutenant, get in the Navigator's chair. It's the one to starboard as you enter the Bridge." Then she looked at Divok, "Sergeant, get through that hatch and into the Gunner's Station." She pointed up to a hatch at the aft end of the companion way between the staterooms. "That hatch leads to Engineering and there is a weapon's fire control station just inside and to your right as you enter."

The hangar floor according to the external imagery being piped into the Crew Lounge by Amelia on the large flat screen television monitor was becoming thick with the walking dead. Some looked like they had fallen ill, died, and then rose again after a short period. Others looked like they had been fed upon before dying and being reanimated.

Laura then looked to the children saying, "Tori and Terry get everyone into the acceleration couches we may have to take off in a hurry and the Inertial Dampeners and Gravitics may fail so being in the couches will keep you from A) being compressed by the G forces and B) from floating around in here or the staterooms after we reach microgravity."

Seeing that the two children who seemed to have knowledge of Spaceship Operations had everyone safely in their seats Laura went into the Bridge and secured the hatch. Now Amelia was fully compartmentalized and with all hatches secured the various compartments were secure from any breach of a neighboring compartment's outer hull. Looking over at Lursa, Laura said, "I guess Lieutenant you get a crash course in how to navigate a Terran Confederation Explorer." Then Laura actuated the controls for the maneuver drives and used the intense heat given off to clear the hangar of any shamblers as she piloted the arrowhead shaped Amelia out of the now open hangar. From the multiple laser beams that sliced open an exit Divok figured out the weapons' fire controls by himself or with Amelia's assistance.

The beams themselves were invisible, but their results were telling as the entire south wall of the hangar fell over on several of the walkers. Laura looked over at Lursa with a maniacal grin and said, "Ready for some Rock and Roll?" Then she took the yoke and using the touch screen of her workstation increased power to the reactionless thrusters. She had the ship at its full 2Gs acceleration in about as much time as it took to think about it. Behind Amelia the heat of the thrusters melted metal and concrete while incinerating all organic material present.

"Scout/ Courier Amelia Earhart this is the Gunned Escort Icarus heave too and don't go any farther. Vice Admiral Rupert Giles of the Terran Confederation Navy has placed Sunnydale California and its military and civilian sea, space, and airports under quarantine due to the release of a biological weapon. If you must escape the Gunned Escort Castor will escort you to the Well Deck of the TCS INTREPID. There you, your crew, and your passengers will be scanned for presence of the virus infecting the people of Sunnydale and now West Santa Barbara. How do you copy?" said a male voice over the ship's commlink.

"Laura, the Icarus has us targeted with six lasers, six missile launchers and two light fusion cannons. At this range I would be incinerated and all organic life within me killed," Amelia said over the ship's commlink next. "I have taking the liberty of powering down our weapons and securing them and locking the turret." Silence followed as Laura looked at Lursa and both shrugged.

Lursa looking somewhat like anger crossed with resignation said, "Commander I will follow your lead. This is not the Klingon Imperial Navy and you are not one of its officers. Your decision I will follow though my every instinct tells me to fight, but perhaps today is not a good day to die."

Laura nodded and smiled then she said, "Gunned Escort Icarus this is Terran Confederation Explorer Amelia Earhart we will comply." Then they got the navigational beacon of the Castor and followed it through the atmospheric interface with space. The blue of the sky slowly gave way to the bejeweled black of space. The wedge like lifting body of the Castor told Laura that the Gunned Escort was one of the Fiery-Class ships used by the Terran Confederation Navy and by the markings the Navy of the Third Imperium of Humaniti too. She had Amelia follow the larger small starship to the opened well deck of the much larger behemoth known as the INTREPID.

"Amelia, I'm Alice. I will use my tractor system to bring you safely into my well deck. I am a Strike Cruiser of the Terran Confederation Navy and have you locked with my weapons. Don't try to take yourself off the course I am guiding you on. You will be destroyed." Though, she sounded like a pleasant teenaged girl Alice also sounded very serious about what she would do if they deviated from her course.

It dawned then on Laura that Alice was the INTREPID's AI. "Shit Lursa we'd best let Alice fly us into that well deck." The pair looked as the huge hangar bay door just under the nose of the prow of the INTREPID opened.

The massive Well Deck could handle up to 100 ships the size of Amelia as Laura looked through the main view port of the Bridge. A Scout/ Courier like the Amelia resembled a miniature Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer, but that was where the resemblance ended. The tiny starship slowly settled onto the landing deck of the Well Deck which was a massive hangar deck separate from the one for the ships small craft squadrons. In fact in the build specs of the INTREPID-Class Strike Cruisers Amelia was now showing Laura on her workstation through a secure window, the Well Deck was actually listed is part of the cargo storage capacity of the larger ship. "So people just sit tight and wait for whoever it is who will let us know we can leave Amelia," Laura said over her commlink to the rest of the ship then she added, "Divok go ahead come forward into the Lounge."

SKIES OVER SUNNYDALE HIGH SCHOOL'S SOFTBALL AND BASEBALL DIAMONDS

The Assault Craft ferrying SG-1, SG-2, and SG-3 from Edwards AFB back to Sunnydale diverted from the original flight path to the athletic fields of Sunnydale High School. Col. O'Neill looked out an armored viewport at a town fast becoming a ghost town with only the dead moving about. He saw the now hastily fortified Sunnydale High School complex surrounded by an ever increasing horde of rotting moving corpses below. He noticed that the Assault Craft was going to use the baseball diamond as its LZ as the ground got closer by the second.

As the ship decelerated and began landing operations O'Neill noticed what looked like a flying tank firing into the mass of undead trying to break into the high school's compound. A yellow-white beam of light nearly as bright as the Sun, strafed the zombies cremating many of them in a single pass. "My god!" He exclaimed as he witnessed the light grave tank fire up the walking dead with its energy weapon.

Glancing back down Jack saw some troops in three toned gray armor spread out and aim their weapons outward trying to cover the LZ. There were two squads of eight each covering each of the diamonds. The rear ramp was lowered to allow the Marines at the rear to use a heavy machinegun looking weapon to fire into the horde of moaning walkers and shamblers. "Whizzzz-Craack, Whizzzz-Craaack, Whizzzz-Craack," was the sound of the weapon speaking as dozens upon dozens of the walking dead were shredded by large caliber projectiles passing out of the barrel and breaking the sound barrier on their flight of death.

Beyond the security fence surrounding the athletic fields of the High School, came a moaning sound that was unnerving. It sounded like air being pumped through a broken pipe organ's bellows. Occasionally he heard a "Whiz-Crack" as someone fired a single shot at something beyond the perimeter. Then he heard the thump of the landing skids touching down. Taking his MP7 sub machinegun he said, "Follow me!" as he walked to the front ramp of the landing craft. A small squad of Marines in tri-colored gray camouflaged combat utilities wearing like colored armored tactical vests and carrying assault rifles or a SAW of some kind came forward. Their helmets were enclosed with polarized face shields not only protecting their eyes and faces, but also making it hard to see their identities. The lead Marine stepped up and said, "I'm Staff Sergeant Napple Baenrahel Colonel O'Neill. I'm to take you to Admiral Giles." Then she flipped up her face shield.

A dark skinned light blond haired Marine looked back at him from under the helmet's lip. She had icy pale diamond blue eyes that penetrated one's soul. Col. O'Neill nodded and said, "Lead on Staff Sergeant." As they left the deck of the front ramp of the Assault Craft the sound of metal being stressed reached everyone's ears as the fence near home plate on the softball diamond gave way and a wall of shambling shuffling walking dead started coming toward the fence separating the softball field from the baseball field. "Staff Sergeant we'd best get inside before they get any closer," O'Neill said as he took up his submachine gun and started firing single shots to the heads of each approaching walker within range. Pop, pop, pop, spat his weapon with each step he took backwards toward the door leading into the school itself. He was firing on semi-automatic and making sure of each shot.

As they got to the double doors leading into the wing of the building closest to the ball diamonds the Imperial Navy Assault Craft lifted off. It pivoted on its central axis and aimed its nose at the creatures and fired two pulse lasers and light missile into the mass of the horde. The explosion of the missile shredded more of the zombies as the laser pulses burnt their way through several others. O'Neill also noticed that the other two Marines aboard the small ship had placed a second machinegun like weapon at the lip of the front ramp and were firing it into the horde mowing down dozens more of the animated dead.

"Where are they off too?" O'Neill asked as they entered the school along with the other Marines and soldiers who were securing their LZ. He hadn't been answered yet when one of the Marines turned, wrapped a heavy chain around and through the crash bars in a figure 8 before locking and welding the lock and another tack welded the doors to the frames. He also saw that SSgt. Baenrahel nodded with approval as she set up a mine that resembled the M18 Claymore used by the American military. Only this one had some sort of motion sensor on its top and she didn't set that unit everyone was behind it.

"To answer your question Colonel, the Higgins Boat was heading to evacuate a lab nearby where there may just be someone who can find a way of containing this plague before the entire continent succumbs to it," SSgt. Baenrahel said as she got up after setting up the mine. "Now to the Library and Admiral Giles." She led the procession down the hall until it met up with the main hall. There she tasked some of the Marines to secure the set of double fire doors separating the two halls in the same manner as they did the entrance at the far end of the Physical Fitness Department's Hall.

As the group turned down the main hall in the direction of the school's library O'Neill noticed that another squad of Marines or soldiers had joined them after having secured the door at the far end of the main hall that lead out onto a side street. As the passed the main entrance while walking through the combination student lounge and atrium O'Neill saw that the Marines still in the school and also barricaded the main entrance and set up automated sentry guns. There was a mixture of motion sensor triggered mini-guns, similar setups of the same weapon he saw on the Higgins Boat, and what looked to be some sort of metal storm devices also rigged to motion sensor triggers.

"You people aren't taking any chances are you Sergeant?" O'Neill asked as they neared the Library. The diminutive Staff Sergeant just nodded in the affirmative. Then they stepped through the opened doors of the Library and through another barricade. This one more defensive than area denial in nature.

Col. O'Neill saw a main slightly younger than him standing before a computerized map sheet of some kind. From a distance the device looked like a regular printed military topographical map, but O'Neill had noticed that it glowed with a luminescence all its own. "Captain, call the Apaches and the Comanches in its time to evacuate this position and take my headquarters to the war room on the INTREPID," said the man to another diminutive Marine this time an officer and possibly human to his right.

The officer saluted then using a communications device on her forearm began calling in the evac birds. The man looked up at O'Neill. Jack saw that he wore metal framed glasses. He also had on dull flat toned steel gray colored utilities of a cut similar to those worn by the Marines. The man also wore the same armored tactical vest as the Marines and at least one other naval officer present. The man then spoke, "Ah Colonel O'Neill, I'm Vice Admiral Rupert Giles of the Terran Confederation Navy and Commanding Officer of Strike Group 100 as well as Joint Forces Base Sunnydale in my timeline."

O'Neill looked at Admiral Giles and said, "After our conversation while I was still in route to this location I decided that I needed my eyes on this matter so I could report it to my CO. I brought with me besides my team Contact Team SG-1, Search and Rescue Team SG-2, and Marine Combat Team SG-3. I know it may not be enough, but our command is rather small at this time and this is what we could spare." VADM Giles nodded in acceptance then motioned Col. O'Neill to come around the table the map sheet was laid out on.

"This Colonel is a development from my time. It is a digital map sheet and it can display any map we have in our data base or that we can down load into the DB. As you can see this version is an orbital photograph of Sunnydale overlain with a military grid system and the names of roads and important facilities on it," VADM Giles said. "The red exes are the sites we no longer have contact with, the black ones are those we've evacuated and or demolished. The blue ones are those places we still hold."

Jack saw that out of the thirty major sites around Sunnydale fifteen were marked with red exes, ten with black ones, and only five still had blue marks. "So we're losing the Battle of Sunnydale then?" Jack asked surveying and absorbing the information he was learning from reading the map sheet. VADM Giles nodded in confirmation. Jack grimaced and cringed. It wasn't good news, not good news at all.

Within minutes VADM Giles and is small staff of five including four Terran Confederation Navy officers, LCDR Kalderash, LCDR Chase, LT Lehane, LT Barolay and Terran Confederation Marine Corps Captain Summers had packed what little high tech gear they possessed. This included the map sheet and a few truly powerful lap top computers. SSgt Baenrahel's squad took rear guard as LtCol Makepeace and SG-3 took point. The other two squads of Marines and Soldiers guarded the procession's flanks. They were between the second and third floors of the main building when they heard one of the motion sensor detonated claymores explode and were nearly to the door leading to the roof when the automate sentry guns began firing. Jack felt he was in a high tech version of the evacuation of Saigon as he stepped out on the school's flat tar and gravel covered roof and saw two more craft similar to the one he rode in on waiting for them at the roof's edge with their forward ramps barely touching the lip of the roof.

By this time they had been joined by some demolitions teams who had set about destroying the stairs leading up from the ground level to the upper levels. From the moaning the Jack figured out that the inner and outer courtyards of the school were now full of the walkers and other moaning coming from within the school told him that the ground floor was lost too. "So like the last Marine from Saigon I now step on to the last bird out of here," he said sadly and with a sense of the historical importance of what he was about to do. The rest of their party was already in the troop and cargo bays of the two Apache Assault Craft. As he lifted his left boot encased foot from the roof and onto the lip of the ramp the AC-230 gently flew up and forward. As he walked into the small cargo and troop bay of the small assault craft the aft and forward ramps closed. At that point Sunnydale High belonged to the walking dead.

The ride up to the TCS INTREPID was nothing but exciting. It was in fact the first time any of the SGC personnel had ridden a space craft into Earth orbit. Outside the now dawning sky of California gave way to the ever bejeweled black of space. The time from when the energy wave that passed through the region was first detected now had reached nearly eight hours since the incident began.

Sunnydale and western Santa Barbara were now ghost towns left to the walking dead hordes of former residents and those of the first responders unlucky enough to fall victim to the disease released accidentally by Ethan Rayne's spell. The spell itself had dissipated six hours after its incantation. Yet the crisis caused by the spell had not ended. Those who dressed as zombies from Dawn of the Dead and the games Half-Life and Resident Evil had not returned to their original selves. The same could now be said of those who dressed as people from the game Traveller, from various Star Trek series or movies, and from other military dramas, westerns, and science fiction or heroic fantasy genres.

In Sunnydale the Elves, both the Drow and those of the Surface subraces, the Halflings and other reborn mythical races had managed to evacuate the city too either by riding the skyships to safe areas or by trekking overland away from the infestation of undead.

SUNNYDALE AIRPORT THAT SAME TIME

Around the same time VADM Giles was relocating to the TCS INTREPID, Captain Warren Mears had fought his way out of the hangar and to a grassy area on the Sunnydale Airport's grounds between a taxi way and the runways. There he gave the order to liftoff. The MV LEONIDAS' 200 dton hull lifted into the skies above as the sun was breaking over the eastern horizon. Mears looked out the pilot's side of the bridge and saw swarms of walking dead now converging on the spot he just left. His ship's reactionless thrusters may not use a reaction mass to gain thrust, but the heat plume from the exited photons given off was intense enough to cremate any undead within 200 yards of the ship.

From his vantage point Mears saw hundreds of the undead go to a final rest. Their souls may have gone on, but now their bodies could join them in repose. He turned his attention back to piloting the small merchant ship as his Navigator and First Officer Tucker Wells plotted a jump to Alpha Centauri Alpha Three otherwise know them as the planet Prometheus. Mears truly didn't know if what he saw in Sunnydale was the end of the world for Earth, but with the small group of people he had aboard though more than the ship was built to handle he planned to start over if it was. Prometheus offered a sanctuary to him in his mind.

In the late twentieth and early twenty first centuries Prometheus was still a world not inhabited by humans. There was only an early hominid species similar to Australopithecus roaming the savannahs of the southwest subcontinent of the primary continental mass. From the history that Mears remembered now Prometheus was settled in the late twenty first and early twenty second centuries by Europeans and North Americans. Now in an earlier time he was going to begin the colonization of that planet.

After travelling outbound from Earth three hours and twenty four minutes Mears noted that the ship had reached the 100 planetary diameters limit for Earth. "Tuck it's time to initiate the jump. Have you got it plotted?" he asked of his First Officer.

Tucker Wells said nodding, "Yes Warren." Then he switched his commlink to ship wide and said in a serious voice, "This is the First Officer all hands and passengers prepare for hyperjump." Then he inserted the jump key into the slot for it with his left hand while flipping up a safety cover with his right over the initiation button. "This is the First Officer we are jumping in five… four… three… two… one… mark…" he said then turned the key and pressed the button.

In a blinding bluish white flash of light the MV LEONIDAS entered Jump Space not to be heard from again for several weeks. The transit from normal space to J-space was not unnoticed. The Bridge Crew of the TCS AUGUSTUS recorded the event and reported it to the Bridge Crew of the TCS INTREPID. On the INTREPID Captain Alex Harris was at the holographic tactical display table monitoring spatial traffic around Earth. "Damn you Warren, I hope you know what you're doing," CAPT Harris said to himself as his XO the resurrected Commander Jesse McNalley nodded and said, "I suspect Warren and Tucker have a plan Xander." CAPT Harris only nodded in reply and said to Jesse, "Well we'll have to report this to Admiral Giles when he's aboard. I'm not ordering any of the Fieries to go after him as we don't know his course, but from the direction he headed I suspect it was to Prometheus."

As CAPT Harris said that CMDR McNalley got that look in his eyes that said he had an idea. Harris looked his XO in the eyes and just said, "Ok, out with it." He saw that Jesse was still thinking it over and his XO placed a figure in the air indicating that he wanted a few to think it over some more first before spilling.

"Captain I'll tell you when I have it fully thought over then we could start planning for it. But I think I have a solution to the problem below. We don't know just how far this plague will go if we don't check it and soon, but we'll need a place to take those not infected. Prometheus may offer just such a location. We have to very draconian in selecting those who are to go as only this ship and the AUGUSTUS have the room to accommodate any colonists at this time," CMDR McNalley said.

WELL DECK TCS INTREPID

Col. Jack O'Neill stepped off the AC-230 Assault Craft he rode up on with SSgt Baenrahel's squad of Drow behind him. SG-1 followed as did Capt Summers and VADM Giles. In the Well Deck's massive hangar Jack saw a ship that resembled a miniature Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer, more AC-230s as well as several of its larger cousin the SB-217 Ship's Boat. From some of these there were civilians and military personnel disembarking as well as more military personnel leaving five ships about three times the size of the Mini-Star Destroyer.

These ships resembled Stingrays and Jack was tempted to call them that when a Marine that rode up with him and VADM Giles said behind him, "Those are Puller-Class Assault Ships of the Third Imperium's Navy. One of them can take a platoon of Imperial Marines or Army troops to a planet for a small mission or several of them could land even a battalion or more of troops by jumping in system then landing on the major world or on any of the facilities needing secured in the system. I'm Captain Isabela Freilander of the Imperial Marine Corps sir."

Jack nodded and said, "Colonel Jonathan "Jack" O'Neill United States Air Force and CO of SG-1." He pointed to Captain Samantha Carter, Doctor Daniel Jackson, and Civilian Specialist Teal'c. "I'm also in command of the detachment sent here by my CO to aid Admiral Giles and Captain Harris. It seems now that you all will have to aid the Earth. For now though I need to learn just what exactly happened down there.

Capt Freilander nodded and said matter of factly, "Something turned us all into the costumes we dressed up in for Halloween. After some misfortunate accidents at Sunnydale's two other costume and party supply stores, Ethan's Costumes and Unique Surplus was the only source of costumes for the city. Me and my company from the 12th MEU United States Marine Corps dressed up as Marines of the Third Imperium of Humaniti and for six hours that was exactly who we were and seems now we are. I have all the memories of my descendant and she fought in more battles than I have."

Jack stopped and listened as the Marine Captain recounted not only her own military experiences, but those of her descendant who had been named in her honor. It seemed that Isabela Freilander, Captain United States Marine Corps according to the memories of her many times great granddaughter would be a well decorated hero in the years to come. Then when Capt Freilander finished she looked at him and said, "Sir I don't intend to alter any possible future we have, but I think after tonight it has already been altered. You see this part of space is free of the Goa'uld not just because of the revolt four to five thousand years ago, but because none of the major worlds for a radius of one thousand parsecs have working stargates. Yes because of her memories I know of the stargates and I know of you Colonel O'Neill, the O'Neill-Class Dreadnaughts were named for you sir."

Jack thought this over and decided that this Captain and any others who may have learned of the Stargate from memories of their descendants should be read into the program. He'd have to run this by General Hammond and Major Davis. Yes he truly needs to talk with the General and perhaps higher. This is a big, big problem. He now looked at the squad led by SSgt Baenrahel wondering if she too knew of the Stargate.

COMMANDER'S WARD ROOM TCS INTREPID

Colonel O'Neil stood looking out at Earth through the armored portal in the Commander's Ward Room where he had been escorted to by SSgt Baenrahel. He also noticed that Capt Freilander and a Capt. Riley Finn were now with him and SG-1, Maj Ferreti and SG-2, and LtCol Makepeace and SG-12. The enlisted personnel of Ferreti's and Makepeace' teams were nervous as they looked around seeing an area what was obviously Officer Country, and certainly Senior Officer Country at that. A robotic steward has served them coffee, tea, and water. The humanoid machine said in an electronic voice, "The Admiral and the Captain will be here shortly to debrief you. Enjoy your drinks and I will set up the side table so you can refill your cups or glasses and perhaps get a sandwich or two." The machine servant then left to carry out its duties.

Jack thought over what he saw through the armored view ports of the Apache as he rode up to the INTREPID. The ship was huge and had one honking big space gun that it seemed to be built around. VADM Giles told him that it was a heavy meson cannon. The following descript the Admiral gave next sent chills down Jack's spine.

The weapon fired subatomic meson particles at near light speeds. Once the particles hit their target they reacted with any matter there. Solid objects exploded, the atmosphere within super-heated cooking all within like they were in a microwave oven and it even caused organics to cooking by causing the water within their cells to heat to boiling. It wasn't a pleasant way to die, no not at all. What made the weapon even more terrible was that at this time and in VADM Giles' future there wasn't an effective shield. Yet Capt Freilander told that there was one in her time, but she wasn't knowledgeable in neither that shield's operation nor how to make one.

A few more minutes of thought passed when Jack noticed the hatch to the room slide open and the two senior Terran Confederation Navy officers present on or above Earth walked in and Jack got up. Jack stood at attention and saluted saying, "Group Attention!" The sound of booted feet responding to the order reached his ears as those with him came to attention and rendered honors to the two senior officers entering the room. VADM Giles being the senior most of the pair returned the salute and gestured for everyone to take their seats around the central table. He and Captain Alexander Harris took their seats first with the Admiral at the head and the Captain to his right.

Col. O'Neill being the senior most officer of the non-Terran Confederation officers present took the foot of the table as Captain Carter, the rest of SG-1, Major Ferreti, and Lieutenant Colonel Makepeace took seats to his right and Captains Freilander and Finn to his left. Jack waited for the Admiral to begin.

Giles looked over the group with him to his left was Lieutenant Commander Janna Kalderash formerly called Jenny Calendar, LCDR Cordelia Chase, and Captain Elizabeth Summers. To his right was Captain Alexander Harris of the Terran Confederation Navy, Lieutenant Simon Le Cross of the Third Imperium's Navy and Commander of the HIMS ICARUS and acting Commander of the 456th Fast Escort Squadron. He noticed that the Imperial personnel were all on the same side of the table while this timeline's Earth and his timeline's Terran personnel were on the opposite side of the table. The enlisted members of Colonel O'Neill's contingent had been escorted by SSgt Baenrahel's squad to the Barracks or GROPO Ville where they were being shown the ship's exchange, the General Grey Cafeteria, and the rest of the facilities assigned to the INTREPID's Marines.

VADM Giles took out and cleaned his glasses before putting them on and reading his tablet computer. "Ahem," he cleared his throat and began to speak, "Colonel O'Neill if you direct your attention to the main view screen behind me you'll see a presentation by Doctor Allard Jackson one of our imminent anthropologists, archeologists, and historians. I believe a descendant of yours Doctor Jackson." The last was said while he looked at Daniel. This made Daniel take more interest in what was coming up on the screen on the forward bulkhead of the conference room.

The presentation introduced by Alice amounted to a first contact message with Dr. Allard Jackson explaining the Terran Confederation, its society, and its history. After the hour and a half long lecture Alice and the Terran Confederation Navy and Marine Corps officers answered questions about the INTREPID, its last mission to Earth, the wars with the Vilani and ways to avoid some of the pitfalls of the future without too badly disturbing any future history.

Doctor Jackson asked one of the most poignant questions, "If we send a scout ship to Bernard's Star and encounter a Vilani expedition there what's to prevent a possible and devastating Earth – Vilani War from occurring in this Century or the early years of the next?

It was LCDR Kalderash speaking in English with a slight Romany accent who answered, "Doctor Jackson what we do in the immediate future is to build up Earth's Defenses. As of last count our current fleet only consists of this Strike Cruiser, the Destroyer AUSUSTUS, Lieutenant Le Cross's Fast Escorts, Lieutenant Commander Blaisdell's Fremont-Class Explorer, and civilian merchant Captain Warren Mears' Hero-Class Private Merchant the MV LEONIDAS. Which by the way Mister Mears seems to have taking a trip to the planet Prometheus in the Alpha Centauri Alpha system with those he rescued from the plague below. This is why LCDR Blaisdell is not here with us. Laura was assigned to see what Mears was up to. I hope Mears is on one of his more congenial attitudes when the Amelia Earhart arrives. Otherwise Mears will experience something no one in this universe has yet, Klingons in battle."

Jack's eyes lifted at that and he asked, "Why should Captain Mears be worried about that?"

It was CAPT Harris who answered that question, "Two of the transformed persons on Commander Blaisdell's ship were a Klingon naval officer and a Klingon Marine Sergeant. The pair dressed as Klingons from the later Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine I believe. The humans they used to be were brother and sister and students at the University of California Sunnydale." Taking a read from his own tablet Harris then added, "We have a mixed group of Klingon warriors all either junior officers in the Klingon Imperial Navy or Marine Corps or Petty Officers in the Navy or NCOs in the Marine Corps." He looked at Admiral Giles saying, "Sir I've taken the liberty of assigning the Naval personnel to the INTREPID's Ship's Company and the Marines to the Ship's Troop Detachment," he then glanced down to Force Captain Freilander, "Unless Captain Freilander wants some for the MEU she has to build?"

Freilander looked over the tablet she'd been given and read the dossiers on the Klingon officers and NCOs from the Marine Corps. Between the Navy and Marine Corps Klingons there were roughly 300 individuals with all their host having retained not only the physiology, but the memories of the overwrites. The Klingon Imperial Navy personnel were CAPT Harris' headache, but the Klingon Imperial Marines, about a company of them were Capt Summers' and her headache. "I think well will need to run the Klingons and your remaining Marines through an Imperial Marine Basic and Advanced Training regimen, but we can have a cadre of Marines for a reconstituted Terran Confederation Marine Corps ready by the end of the Northern Hemisphere's summer." She looked at her tablet again and then at the Admiral and the USAF Colonel in turn, "As for the immediate emergency on the ground I suggest we use my Heavy Marine Line Company with Force Captain Finns Marine Commando Team to secure a landing zone at Chennault Field. Then after we shuttle down Captain Summer's Security Marines and the Klingon Marines, my line company with Captain Finn's commandos will rescue any holdouts checking known strongpoints like the Sunnydale Police Department's headquarters, City Hall, Sunnydale Memorial Hospital, and Sunnydale Mall. After that we'll check for survivors in this underground military facility Captain Finn found using the sensors on the Puller Assault Ship he rode up on." She then fed the information into Alice who uploaded it on the main view screen of the conference room.

The facility was smaller than the one used by the SGC under NORADs facility in Cheyenne Mountain, but it looked like it was massive anyway. Col. O'Neill nodded saying, "While we were waiting and after Captain Summers entered before you came in Admiral Captains Summers, Freilander, Finn, and Carter, Major Ferreti, Lieutenant Colonel Makepeace, and I discussed this facility. Captain Finn before he became some future descendant of his served as leader of one of the special operations teams assigned to the military side of this operation. He said that overall command of the facility is in the hands of a Doctor Margaret "Maggie" Walsh. I know Doctor Walsh from before my involvement with the SGC. She's a real piece of work. Not used to being told no, doesn't let to her minor details get in the way of her research. She quite obsessed with the Demon Research Initiative and some special project she has going down there. I suspect if she gets her hands on some of the walkers she'll experiment on them like she seems to be doing with the extra-dimensional residents of Sunnydale. I met her in Saudi Arabia during the war to liberate Kuwait. Back then she was part of some Psyops operation interrogating Iraqi POWs taken along the defensive line set up to protect the Saudis before the ground war began. What she did to get her answers would have pleased Doctor Mengele." Jack shivered then as if something or someone had stepped on his grave.

Captain Summers looked up from reading her report and said, "While my Marines along with the Klingon Marines secure the LZ at Chennault Field we'll be screening any survivors who come our way for the virus infecting the walkers. Mostly it will be looking for humanlike bite-marks on surviving victims and quarantining them. Colonel O'Neill already talked with Major General Hammond before this meeting commenced and the SGC will assist in the quarantine and the President has authorized further evacuations and the sterilization of Sunnydale and neighboring areas to ensure the outbreak doesn't spread." Her Slayer instincts bristled at that, but Buffy knew that if the walkers got farther than they already were it could spell a real apocalypse. "Admiral I know you're my Watcher and all, but I think at this point we'll not be patrolling tonight or much if at all in the near future. We all know what the INTREPID can do to Sunnydale and the neighboring regions if given the order to cleanse the infection."

From what Giles knew of the capabilities of an INTREPID-Class Strike Cruiser if given the time the INTREPID along could glass Earth. "Yes Captain I do know what this ship can do if ordered to do so which is why I want you to transport the President of the United States up here before we go into Sunnydale and begin preparations for Operation Clean Sweep. I too have talked with General Hammond and President Ryan. We'll be taking the President aboard the INTREPID and the Vice President aboard the AUGUSTUS. Afterwards the AUGUSTUS will jump with the VP, his family and some of the civilians we've already rescued to Prometheus. There they will link up we hope with Captain Mears and find out just what he's doing there now. We don't have a colony there in this century neither do the Vilani. So he may be jumping the gun if you will and setting up a small colony as soon as he leaves Jump Space, establishes a safe orbit and finds the right place to set down."

Jack nodded then said, "I assume from some talks with some of your personnel and with Captain Freilander you all know about the Stargate Program?" He was answered by nodding heads from around the table from all the non-SGC personnel. "Ok as soon as Major Davis gets up here with the President we'll have all current ship's personnel within this room and those not present with a need to know sign Non-Disclosure Agreements. Though these current documents are geared for those serving in or dealing with the US Military we'll use them first and update when we have proper documents for the Reconstituted Terran Confederation and its Armed Forces."

Jack nodded for Capt. Carter to take over, "What we'd like to do as we help your rebuild the Terran Confederation Armed Forces and hopefully the Confederation it served is to integrate the SGC into such an international command. You see after this emergency in Sunnydale is dealt with we have the matter of a low intensity war going one with a System Lord of the Goa'uld Empire. Teal'c used to be his First Prime. The First Prime is a System Lord's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff or better yet his Marshal of Forces." She took a drink of water and added, "I've up loaded the history of the Stargate Program and the discovery of Earth's Stargate into Alice as we waited for this meeting to begin. Don't worry I had authorization from the President, General Hammond, and Colonel O'Neill to do this. Alice agreed to only let those within this room and Lieutenant Commander Rosenberg to have access to this information for now. We don't have a space fleet beyond our orbital shuttles at this time. Mir is only a scientific station thus our war so far has been limited to hearts and minds operations and guerilla raids ran through the Stargate to other worlds in the Gate Network."

At her nod Carter passed the baton figuratively to Dr. Jackson. He got up, cleared his throat, gave the "Stargate Speech" which reminded Capt. Summers, CAPT Harris, LCDR Kalderash, and VADM Giles of the "World is older than you believe speech." Then Daniel added, "Jack and I killed Ra the Supreme System Lord three years ago now and a year ago one of his brothers the System Lord Apophis attacked the Project Giza facility that Stargate Command now occupies. The gate had been mothballed and was only guarded by a small Security Forces Flight on a rotating basis to keep the equipment from being stolen or vandalized. Since the attempt to rescue those Airmen taken then we've been at war with Apophis and perhaps the whole of the Goa'uld Empire as well."

Admiral Giles having been briefed earlier by both President Ryan and by Major General Hammond sat up cleared his throat again and said, "Thank you all, as it is we'll be commencing Operation Clean Sweep or the sterilization of Sunnydale in six hours. We will get all who we can find who are infected, but I think that we won't find many survivors by this time. In the last several hours prior to evacuating to orbit we've rescued several hundred families including many former United States military personnel still of age to serve. Some of these have enlisted knowing that we won't be able to pay them just yet as we have no monetary reserves at this time, but the promise of going to space with the Fleet has filled some of them with a dream of adventure. Others just miss the military life and want to serve humanity as a whole rather than just the United States. We also have many families with their children some of whom were altered forever by the Halloween Event like many of us in this room, but some nearly as extreme as Sergeant Baenrahel and her Drow or Lieutenant Lursa Qua'lon and her Klingons. Both races may not have lived in this universe before, but I know for one that the Drow existed in the universe I remember and were one of our loyalist non-human member races. On this ship they are all in Captain Summers' Ship's Security Company and as of now comprise most of its current strength of sixty. We also seemed to have picked up some Starfleet MACO troops Captain Freilander who want to serve in the MEU. I guess since we are growing from a company to an over strengthened one I will have to brevet you to Major for now. I don't yet have the authority to make you a full Major or even promote you to Lieutenant Colonel. Perhaps we can settle this also when the President of the United States arrives in a few hours. I have much to talk over with him and I suspect I will be speaking with many heads of state and government soon."

Jack nodded saying, "Yes if you unit is going to be an international force protecting the planet you'll need at least the support of the major economic, political and military powers. I would suggest that you emphasize that the Terran Confederation and its Armed Forces are not to be used to pacify the nations' of Earth enemies and rivals. Your mission will solely be to defend Earth from external enemies until such time as unification can be achieved with most of the nations of Earth joining the Confederation and we should look at some minimum, but not too loose standards for joining the reconstituted Terran Confederation. I for one would love to have help fighting the Goa'uld and if what is in your share of the briefing is true we have a pending war or series of wars coming with these Vilani and there are the transdimensional aliens you call Demons that have used the natural portal in Sunnydale to sneak in to our universe. Those who threaten us should be treated as external enemies while those living with us peacefully should be openly integrated into Terran Society. If we are to be an example to those human worlds out there enslaved by the Goa'uld or conquered by these Vilani if they exist in this universe we need to treat all aliens who don't make war upon us as we would like ourselves to be treated. It will be hard I know for we all have those jerks who'll never like anyone not like themselves, but we can't afford to treat anyone like some nations treated the Jews of Europe, the native Africans or Native Americans anymore."

Giles found himself agreeing with Col. O'Neill and said, "I'll be having that discussion with President Ryan when he arrives. Yet this morning I think we need to prepare for this afternoon's operations, but those not needed to engage in the sterilization operations can get some much needed rest. It's been a long night and I know I'll miss my library, but this ship has most of those texts in its database and I can read them if I need to from up here. As it is I need to contact a certain Quentin Travers the Head of the Watcher's Council and inform him of the possible death of one Ethan Rayne and what has happened here on Halloween night. Don't worry he doesn't need to know yet that you've opened the Chappa'ai." With that VADM Giles adjourned the meeting assigning everyone in either the Terran Confederation services or the Imperial services duties and letting Col. O'Neill assign duties to his people.

O'Neill followed Giles, Harris, McNalley, Kalderash, and Chase to the Bridge with Carter and Daniel trailing him. Teal'c went with Ferreti, Makepeace, Captains Summers, Freilander, and Finn to the ship's Marine Barracks or as the naval personnel called it GROPOVILLE. Le Cross went back to his ship and the duty of containing the zombie plague to Sunnydale and western Santa Barbara.

APACHE 202 ON APPROACH TO JOINT FORCES BASE ANDREWS

Lieutenants Faith Lehane and Jean Barolay were at the controls of the AC-230 dispatched to retrieve President Ryan, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, the Chief of Naval Operations, a detachment of Secret Service agents and a squad of US Marines. Lehane saw she was nearing the nation's capital and entered their Air Traffic Control Network, "This is Apache 202 from the Tango Charlie Sierra INTREPID calling Andrews' control how do you read, over?"

"Apache 202 we read you loud and clear. We have you at…" then the Air Traffic Control at the Air Force/ Navy Air Traffic Control Center read of her altitude, range, and direction of approach. "Apache 202, approach the east runway."

"Roger Andrews Control, but we land like a helicopter what helicopter pads do you have available?" Faith said nearing JFB Andrews. She looked out the cockpit's canopy for the landing pad she was then directed to and turned the Assault Craft towards it. The landing site assigned to her was the apron in front of the hangars for the 89th Airlift Wing. She maneuvered the twenty dton craft to a position near a group of people around several black limousines and dark green colored military ground cars known as Humvees.

Faith brought the Apache down rotating it so that he forward cargo ramp was facing the group of people near the limos and Hummers. As the lip of the ramp neared the ground SSgt Baenrahel and the rest of her squad jumped from there onto the tarmac taking up security positions round the Assault Craft. The men and women in the dark suits with some sort of commlink in their ears and at the cuffs of their jackets reacted with a start until the man in a light gray well cut suit motioned them to settle down. Faith looked at the man in gray recognizing President of the United States of America John Patrick Ryan. She remembered Jack Ryan from her most current memories.

"Look Jean the man in gray is President Ryan," Faith said as she pointed out the man they could see at the head of a clutch of a half dozen men in suits and military uniforms.

Jean looked at the strong looking older man and thought if the Colonies had a man with the sense of strength and character this man projected rather than that manipulator and power seeker who had been the President of the Colonies at the time of the attack perhaps things would have turned out different than they had. Jean Barolay had read up on President Ryan and found a man she admired. "Yes I see him and he looks very handsome for a married man with a daughter in college and son entering high school."

As they waited for the most powerful man on the planet at this time to board Faith and Jean powered pack on the thrusters and contra-gravity lifters and extending the AC-230's landing struts. CJCS Robert Jackson looked at the bird that had two obvious missile bays and a cannon port. "Jack that is one heck of a military landing craft," he commented seeing the six armored and heavily armed Marines take up positions forming a security position around the MV-22 Osprey sized craft. As the ship finally settled on its landing struts a soldier in US issue BDUs and a black tactical armored load bearing vest stepped of the loading ramp. This had to be Colonel Makepeace the commander of SG-3 a Marine Combat Team from the SGC.

Makepeace walked out a few paces from the nose of the assault craft and utility shuttle. The ride down from the INTREPID was exciting for someone who never rode a space craft before, but he now had business to attend to as the President, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Navy, the Chairman, the CNO, and the Commandant of the Marine Corps followed a security detail made up of six Secret Service Agents, six Marines, and two NCIS agents. The party got on the small ship after Makepeace greeting them and said that Colonel O'Neill was on the INTREPID arranging accommodations and security aboard ship. "Sirs the pilot tells me that we'll be launching as soon as she gets tower clearance," Makepeace said before taking a seat in one of the nylon webbed bench seats lining the length of the cargo bay along its outer bulkheads.

As the ship's contra-gravity lifters took over for the landing struts SSgt Baenrahel rallied her Marines onto the forward ramp and led them into the bay. The six shorter than average Marines took seats to the left of Makepeace who sat facing the President and his delegation. At her nod the five other Marines took of their face plated helmets as Napple did. Their appearance made the humans across from them start a bit, but not react with revulsion like some did on more primitive worlds.

The combined thrust of the reactionless drives and the contra-gravity lifters took the small ship nearly straight up into space like a high-tech express elevator. None of the passengers in the cargo bay felt the shift in g forces because of the ship's inertial dampeners. Napple smiled as the novelty of her people wore off to be replaced by the new novelty of transiting from atmosphere to space. The Rivvil were staring out the side vision ports of the cargo bay when LT Faith Lehane came down the steps from the cockpit.

LT Lehane smiled at Napple as she walked into the center of the bay between everyone. "Greetings, I'm your pilot for this trip and the return trip. My name is Faith Lehane and I'm a Lieutenant in the Terran Confederation Navy. Don't worry my co-pilot is an accomplished pilot herself is flying this AC-230 Apache Assault Craft which for the duration of this flight we're running under the call sign Space One. Mister President."

Hearing the pilot mention her name caused NCIS Special Agent Jethro Leroy Gibbs to turn his head toward her. He was on this flight because he had been assigned as part of the SECNAV's security detail by the DIRECTOR NCIS. The five foot six inch or so pilot looked like what the missing Faith Lehane would look like aged about ten to eleven years.


	4. Chapter 4

0

Chapter Four

MV LEONIDAS ONE WEEK AFTER ENTERING JUMP SPACE

Warren Mears and Tucker Wells checked and double checked the LEO's sensors and communications arrays. Then Warren who like Tucker and the rest of the crew had not reverted back to their teenaged selves looked first out the view port then over to Tucker and said, "Well we're right there isn't and hasn't been any settlement by the Vilani or any other race we know of from the Traveller Universe down there. I guess we're the farthest Explorers Earth has had since the Apollo Moon missions."

Tucker took another look at the pristine earthlike planet below then back at his sensor readings and listened again at to his commlink for any artificial signals coming from the surface or anywhere within the planetary system of Alpha Centauri Alpha. Below Prometheus the first colony of Terra awaited them to set foot on it. Tucker looked at Warren and said, "Who thought that when we woke yesterday morning that two high school science and gaming geeks would be the first Earth humans to see this planet. It amazes me that it's actually here where it was in the game's timeline." He looked back out the view port smiling then said, "Warren we should land and find a place to establish a settlement. It's a good thing you dad and mine are preppers and minimalist survivalists. Jonno's dad is the Agriculture and Horticulture instructor at UC Sunnydale and we all three have our parents and siblings except my youngest brother on Leo. Then there are the other three dozen pairs of people ranging from our actual age to young adults. The only mature adults are our parents."

Warren thought he knew what Tuck was getting at, but he asked anyway, "So what are you saying Tuck?" He sat back in the pilot's acceleration seat and turned it to face Tucker.

Tucker Wells leaned forward towards Warren and said, "In this universe it's like we've been given a change to make a real change for the better. Instead of being the Geeks' Revenge like we may have turned into back on Earth in Sunny D before last Halloween. Here and now like we've thrown around with each other and our parents and the other adults on this ship we have a chance to start anew down there." This time Tuck pointed out his view port at the blue, green and white marble below.

Warren nodded in agreement then asked Leo, the LEONIDAS' AI, "What do you think Leo?" On a small holo-emitter pedestal on the Bridge Console an image looking like an ancient Spartan warrior stood in Hoplite armor with a spear, a large round shield, and a Xiphos or the ancient Greek iron infantry sword.

This was the avatar of Leonidas the name the ship's AI took after it was the ship was named for Leonidas I the king of the Spartans at the time of the Second Persian War. The small twelve inch tall Spartan looked up and to and from Warren and Tucker then spoke, "It seems that your assessments are correct. Though you aren't the original members of my crew from the other Traveller universe you are the crew this version of me has. I suggest we land here at this spot on this peninsula that resembles the land currently occupied by the Hellenic Republic or Greece back on Earth. This land has a decent flood plain for farming, the mountains ringing the valley provide natural defensive walls and give that only your fathers, Warren and Tucker are veterans of the United States Armed forces amongst your adults. You have five times the normal occupancy for a ship of this size and even with the supplies in the containers in the cargo holds we don't have enough life support for long term residency on this ship."

Then Leo projected the map of the valley again saying, "As for a place to land this shelf overlooking the central lake makes a decent location for a small frontier spaceport and potential down starport for your colony. This valley is roughly eighty one kilometers or about fifty miles long and half that wide at the mouth which opens into this sea." The image now showed a sea which resembled a reverse Mediterranean Sea and a subcontinent resembling a reverse Europe. Then Leo zoomed back into the valley. Its mountain sides were covered in a mixture of evergreen and summer green trees running nearly all the way down to the shores of the river transiting its length in many places. Yet there were like the potential spaceport shelf several open clearings and meadows that could be farmed or used for pasturelands.

The mouth of the river was located in a cove on the coast that offered a great harbor which would make a good seaport in time and a decent fishing port for the near future. Warren looked these locations over and noted that some of the outcroppings along the ridges and mountains that were the walls of the valley looked to offer mineral resources. This potential colony could be economically viable with the right development of its offerings.

"Leo, Tuck I think we have a potential place to begin again. I just wish our ship had been one of the ten thousand dton bulk freighters with enough passenger room for three hundred pairs of colonists. The reason for the number of passengers is that is the minimum number most sources on the subject say is safe for a viable colony to avoid genetic problems later on," Warren said looking over the data that was now showing over the holographic picture of the valley they were going to land in after talking it over with the elder Mearses, Wellses, and Levinsons. "We have half the number of colonists in the original Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. The Mayflower had ninety passengers and the Speedwell had thirty for a total of one hundred twenty colonists. We have sixty people counting the adults, teen agers and kids we rescued. Most of the transformed have reverted back to their normal selves. It seems we of the crew of the LEONIDAS retained our transformed bodies besides our memories. One good think about it when we offer this proposal to the passengers we can offer to shuttle between Prometheus and Earth for supplies."

Tucker and Leo nodded with Leo speaking, "The colonists have enough supplies for sixty people to survive two years before needing restocking, but I suggest you implant in their minds the idea of making the planting of gardens and fields for food corps a priority. It seems the Calgary Colony settlement colonists that ordered the supplies and equipment in the holds were like your parents, preppers and survivalist as well as separatists. We have small arms, ammunition, and armor enough to supply a company sized militia as well as heirloom seeds for vegetables and grains and the tools to plant them with. There are also prefabricated cabins in some of the containers. The small arms, ammunition, and armor crates are in the secure cargo hold while the other supplies and the shelters are in the upper and lower primary holds."

Tucker and Warren looked over the manifest of their cargo finding that there were enough cabins to set up a small village for the people on the Leo that included a community building that could work as a city hall, medical clinic, school and community center. They smiled it seemed these first colonists would have a better beginning than either Plymouth or Jamestown. "We don't have enough people, but we aren't an authorized official colony either," Tucker said, "But we can poll the people in the hold and the upper deck to see what their skills are and to find out if any are open to establishing this colony. I think if we explain to them what was going on back there in Sunny D we might be able to convince many that this is a viable alternative to returning and finding out that our world no longer exists."

Warren nodded then said, "Besides even with frontier refueling using water siphoned from this lake or scooping raw hydrogen from one of these four gas giants," he pointed at the map of the Alpha system now showing four Jovian sized worlds in the outer system, "We won't have enough life support to keep everyone safe for the return trip. This reminds me, we'll need to establish one of those extra cabins as our company facilities here at Sparta." He now scrolled back to the manifest. Tucker nodded with Leo's avatar doing the same.

ALPHA CENTAURI ALPHA SYSTEM FOURTH ORBIT

The TCS Amelia Earhart popped out of jump space in a flash of blue-white light one hundred diameters out of a Mars sized world in the fourth orbit of Alpha Centauri Alpha. This world unlike Mars had a thin, but breathable atmosphere with a climate a lot like that of the Pacific Northwest. At sea level judging from Amelia's sensor readings Laura Blaisdell and Lursa Qua'lon noticed that the atmosphere had the same pressure as Colorado Springs while the mountain peaks were thin enough to require respirators to survive. "Well we came out from jump over Prometheus' outer sister planet it seems and the sensors besides showing us a nice world with about seventy five percent of Earth's gravity and atmosphere and a sixty to forty surface water to land ratio don't detect the LEONIDAS around this world."

Lursa nodded as she looked at the pristine wilderness below the northernmost and southernmost latitudes also were in hospitable to human or Klingon, but between the fortieth north and the fortieth south the planet could be colonized. It was a paradise even by Qo'nos' standards. "This could be a place for Earth to relieve some of its overpopulation issues and perhaps give some of the population a chance to restart their lives." Laura nodded in agreement at Lursa's words.

Shortly before their jump to find the LEONIDAS and crew the spell that transformed them had run its course, but the Klingons and others affected like Laura never returned to their original forms. Laura remembered being the boy Larry, but seemed content to remain the woman she was now. She had talked at length with Lursa and Divok during their week in Jump Space and all agreed that they had to live the lives they had now and not pine heavily for those they lost. Here they were the first eyes to rest upon a wilderness world. "Well I guess we can plan potential settlement of this planet later. Now I think we ought to find Warren Mears and the LEONIDAS," Laura said as she turned back to the pilot's station of Amelia.

It was at that time that Amelia spoke without projecting her avatar, "Laura, Lursa, I've made contact with Leonidas himself. He and his crew are in stationary orbit over the eastern subcontinent of the main continental mass of Prometheus. They are over Prometheus' northern hemisphere. It seems they've found a spot to establish a colony in a valley on a peninsula resembling the land occupied by Greece back home. The feed has a few minutes time delay, but I can project a holographic image of what they've found so far."

Laura and Lursa looked over the detailed imagery seeing the area selected for the LEONIDAS to land with the refugees and crew. "It does look to be a good position to begin a colony by either human or Klingon standards," Lursa said looking over the readings displayed with the imagery of the land. "I know Star Trek spoke of my people being a warrior culture and that is true to a point, but we weren't as violent as depicted in the television plays. We like humans lived for our families and to enjoy as much of our lives as possible. Like you we want our children to live better lives that we did. We have many of the same goals, but we like the Israelis and the Swiss understand the universe is a harsh place and we need to be able to defend what we've made. If Roddenberry somehow found a means to observe our culture or had access to data on it when he created his show then perhaps there was some bleed over from the primary universe I remember living in."

Laura looked at the imagery and nodded, "Yes unlike the Federation we like the Klingons had to fight for our survival in my remembered universe against an Empire that sought to limit the development of humanity and control the rate at which new ideas were adopted. In one thousand years the Vilani had not advanced beyond where Earth will be or would be in the late twenty-first to early twenty-second centuries. Yet in both your universe and mine Earth went from space faring to star faring in less than a century. Your universe's Earth picked itself up from a devastating third world war and ours had to recover from a near extinction level bombardment in our early twenty third century. Yet the Terran Confederation can be seen as a militant version of the Federation or a less militant version of the Klingon Empire. I'm sure to the Ziru Sirka my people were the Klingons." Both women laughed at that for a few minutes then Laura asked Amelia to send a message to the LEONIDAS that they were coming to see how things were going and if there was any help needed.

Before they made preparations to leave the orbit of the Alpha Centaur Alpha Four Lursa said, "I'm sure even the Romulans would see the people of the Terran Confederation as being nearly as warlike as the Klingon people. To them even the Federation are barbarians." Laura found herself agreeing with Lursa on that. Luckily only a few people had dressed as Romulans and so far like the Klingons none had gained even a Warbird. Thank god none of the Romulans had gained the possession of one of the D'deridex Warbird Battle Cruiser. The INTREPID would have been hard pressed to defend Earth against one of those. As it was like the Klingons who were permanently transformed from their human hosts the Romulans were all junior officers or the Romulan equivalent of Marines. "The other thing I'm thankful for is that those who became Romulans weren't able to acquire even one of their warbirds let alone one of their battle cruisers."

Lursa shivered as she nodded in agreement. Her retained memories of her home universe said she had faced the Romulans more times than any other race of Known Space. Despite their presentation of being the most civilized the Romulans were just as warlike as the Klingons, but they made war more like the Terran ancient Romans. She knew from her memories of being a human teenager prior to her transformation that most people had compared the Romulans to Soviet Russia, but she always thought they were a high-tech Roman Empire.

2 NOVEMBER 1997 COMMAND BRIDGE TCS INTREPID

President Jack Ryan had been in the Strike Cruiser INTREPID's Command Bridge for several hours now as Vice Admiral Rupert Giles and Captain Alexander Harris ran the last effort to evacuate as many uninfected as they could from the surface of Sunnydale and western Santa Barbara. The Army, Marines, Air Force and Navy had been doing the same for the rest of Santa Barbara. Looking at the real-time imagery in the holo-tank of the Holographic Tactical Display Table was enlightening and arrangements were made to install one of these in the Situation Room. The last of the Puller-Class Assault Ships had taken 100 refugees to the relocation center near Barstow and VADM Giles and CAPT Harris were about to initiate the sterilization of Sunnydale and Santa Barbara.

President Ryan cringed at that thought and looked at Admiral Robert Jackson, Colonel Jack O'Neill, Colonel Makepeace, and Major Ferreti along with his SECDEF and SECNAV. The CNO or Chief of Naval Operations had returned to D.C. to oversee planet side operations of the Navy in this matter. The Secret Service and NCIS security teams had remained, but with the Marines, Air Force and allied military personnel aboard the massive assault ship it was unlikely that anyone wanting to assassinate the President or members of the Cabinet could reach them.

Looking back at Chairman Jackson, President Ryan asked, "What do you thing Robbie?" He saw Jackson forming his thoughts before answering and lean forward against the table to observe the wrapping up of ground operations beyond the quarantine operations to prevent the uninfected from reentering the quarantine zone and the infected from leaving. There was no cure for the Zombie Plague as it was now being called so the plan was to sterilize the affected area. The INTREPID was already in position to use her primary weapon. Battery One was fully charged and ready for his word to fire. Jack knew that he would be the first President since Lincoln to authorize this sort of military action on the homeland. He wanted input from those present.

ADM Robert "Robbie" Jackson looked at the President, his longtime friend after taking another observation of the operations dirt side. He knew Jack was warring within himself about the order that needed to be given. The last of the Apache Assault Craft, Comanche Ship's Boats, Puller Assault Ships, Chinook and Blackhawk Helicopters, and C-17 and C-130 transports had left Chennault Field and other air fields around Sunnydale and Santa Barbara in the last hour. Some of the civilians had been evacuated to the INTREPID and the AUGUSTUS as they had the largest free space of the few ships Earth seemed to have inherited from the events of the last evening and night and the rest were evacuated to displacement camps around Barstow and Bakersfield. The quarantine cordon had been pulled back and manned by Marines, Soldiers, Airmen, and National Guardsmen. At sea the Navy and Coast Guard kept any boats and ships from going into the quarantine zone. "Mister President, Jack, it's time to give the order. I know that they were once fellow Americans regardless of whether they were humans or not beforehand, but this infection must be contained before this small apocalypse becomes an extinction level event."

Jack looked at the others around the HTDT and their faces and nods showed their agreement with ADM Jackson. He wondered how past Presidents felt when faced with such or similar tragedies and the hard decisions that needed to be made and now he knew. "I don't like it, but it has to be done. The fate of not only California and the United States of America, but that of the entire planet rests upon this decision," he said somberly. Looking up at Terran Confederation Navy Vice Admiral Rupert Giles he made up his mind and steeled his courage, "Admiral you may give the order to fire."

VADM Giles nodded and turned to CAPT Harris, "Alex you may fire when ready."

CAPT Harris swallowed hard for he knew he was about to mark the final deaths of those below, but it wasn't murder, but release from the hell they were trapped in. The walking shambling husks below weren't the people they once were, but abominations. The people had died hours ago and their souls were hopefully in a better place. "Commander McNalley, Fire!" Alex said with all the authority of his rank and position. The boy Xander was no longer there, he was now Captain Alexander Harris commanding officer of the most powerful warship Earth had at this time.

Outside orbital and air space had been cleared between INTREPID and its target area. The nose of the ship had a large weapon's port open up. Inside the port was the aperture of the primary weapon, its heavy meson cannon. The emitter array of the cannon glowed, but between it and the impact area the meson beam was invisible. The neutrally charged subatomic particles raced toward the planet at the full speed of light. Earth sits eight light minutes from Sol so light from our sun reaches us eight minutes after leaving its surface. The INTREPID was just fractions of a light second from Earth. The meson beam impacted the surface near UC Sunnydale almost instantly.

The mesons hitting the subatomic particles of the atoms of the molecules that made up the matter within the bricks, mortar, and other building materials and the rest of the matter surrounding them excited these particles into vibrating at tremendous speeds. As for any organic matter well it began heating up from the inside out. Plants, trees, animals, any living creature unfortunate not to be evacuated, the undead wondering around aimlessly, any demon who hadn't taken the hint to leave found themselves cooking in their own skins. The death was horrific for those still alive. Of the undead the zombies didn't register the pain of cooking, but the vampires screamed out as their host bodies incinerated from within.

The city and county of Sunnydale's surface area started to take on a glassy appearance as the silica within the local soil and within the stone and brickwork of buildings and the concrete of the paved surfaces boiled and became glass. Even the creatures underground did not escape the hell of the meson beam as it swept over the area within the tall Jersey Barriers marking the perimeter of the target zone. From the coast to the barrier the surface of the Earth was glassed. Within a half-hour the operation was complete. CMDR McNalley turned to CAPT Harris and said, "Sanitizing Operations are complete sir."

President Ryan grimaced and shivered at those flat final words marking the end of an operation that maybe the final focal point of his Administration. He worried that his political enemies would use this to attack the next member of the Unity Party to run for the Presidency, since he like Theodore Roosevelt before him decided that having taken the oath of office so early in his predecessor's term that he had served his two terms. Late twentieth century Earth had been so rocked by several minor, but devastating wars initiated by mad men seeking revenge against perceived injustices from earlier times that the nations of the Western Pacific and Central and Eastern Europe were still putting the pieces back together. Now he had taken military action on his own soil to rid it of an enemy which if left unchecked would have spelled the end of all civilization and perhaps humanity itself. He looked up and nodded to VADM Giles who in turn said to CAPT Harris, "Secure from operations." CAPT Harris passed that order on to CMDR McNalley.

President Ryan looked at the other Jack in the room, Col. O'Neill and said, "Jack what have I done?" O'Neill saw that Ryan was still warring with his emotions over the action that had to be done. He knew the man had always done the right thing for the nation. That's why in the last election Jack voted for Ryan and the other Unity Party candidates on his ballot. He did the same again for the Colorado delegation to Congress in the midterm. Now he saw a man who as strong as he was felt the guilt of the actions he had to take to safeguard his nation and people over the years. O'Neill understood those feelings for he had on occasion carried out orders that resulted from information collected by the former CIA analysts standing as the leader of the Free world before him.

O'Neill dropped his usual attitude and became the seriously intelligent Air Force Colonel he sometimes let others see saying, "Sir you did what had to be done to not only save California and the nation, but the world. With the Slayer now a Marine on this very ship, which by the way if we had left her alone to deal with those creatures we only would have been signing her death warrant, we had no other choice. Captain Summers may be one of the most powerful warriors in the history of humanity, but she couldn't take on this mission and survived. She would have been overwhelmed down there and those things would have broken through the perimeter and spread through the rest of the nation. You did the right thing sir; you saved us all with the order to sterilize Sunnydale and Santa Barbara. After the heat and radiation clear we can go in and in time rebuild the two cities. We can't help the loss of life of those too stubborn or stupid not to evacuate. We told them what was going to happen. We forced those we could to leave on the last ships out, but those that stayed behind sacrificed themselves. The rest, the demons, the vampires, the monsters, and those who were once human they were enemies that needed to be dealt with. I know the weight you now have is great, but you can't wallow in the guilt over it. Such action will ruin you. I should know I felt similar destructive guilt after the accidental death of Charlie. I blamed myself, it nearly destroyed my life. It did destroy my marriage. If you let this guilt build it will tear at you and eat you alive. You have much to live for too. You have your family, your friends, your nation, and your world."

Ryan nodded at O'Neill's words of those present only he or Robbie could talk to Jack that way and get away with it. "You're right Jack and I won't, but it still doesn't mean I won't morn for those lost this day. I know some of them may have been in truth enemies domestic, but they were still because of where they were born or spawned Americans. I have to realize that from this point on not all Americans maybe human, but just look like us." From the corner of his eye Ryan saw Col. Makepeace and Maj. Ferreti smiling at his words. He turned to the two officers, the Marine Colonel and the Air Force Major. "Do you gentlemen have something to add?" he said noticing for the first time that Maj. Ferreti didn't look fully human. There were slight points to his ears and his facial structure was slightly more angular than the average human's. But it was Col. Makepeace who spoke first.

"Sir, I've served the nation for nearly twenty six years since graduating from West Point and taking my commission in the Marine Corps rather than the Army. All those years I hid my true racial or species identity from everyone but my family and closest friends. I hope you really mean your words as I am a Bracken Demon. We are the most human of those that have transited the various Hellmouths around the world and we blend in the best. Most of us are refugees from our home dimension. We are fleeing the Blood Wars. Unlike many from the realms of the Abyss or the Nine Hells we have no animosity towards humans. In fact we would rather live in peace with you all and can intermarry and interbreed with you. All my children are tieflings or the crossbred descendants of fiends and humans. While conventional wisdom looks at all demons as agents of chaos and evil, we Brackens tend more toward a neutral outlook at the world in general. I am honored to have you say your words just now. I see myself as an American citizen first and a Bracken Demon second. I would die for this nation and her people before letting those with more evil intent have their way with her. I would do the same to protect the Earth from their threat or that of the Goa'uld who are native to this universe."

President Ryan nodded and said, "Thank you Colonel. Robbie can we see that any Bracken Demons honorably serving the nation have their record amended to reflect their true racial status without them being discharged. I don't want any of my fellow citizens being denied their identities because of a human centric focus of a myopic government."

ADM Jackson nodded and said, "I can see to it. After all I am the son of a black preacher who fought with Martin Luther King to see that we won't be treated as less than human. I understand where Colonel Makepeace is coming from, but I would like to know why you're smiling Major Ferreti?"

Maj. Ferreti straightened his stance a bit since he was now addressing his highest military commander in the presences of three of his senior civilian commanders. Then he cleared his throat and said, "Sirs I am the child of an Italian American who served in the European Theater of World War Two and well for lack of a better common term an elven woman. You see like the Bracken and other demons we of elven blood have lived in the shadows since the end of the middle ages. Some of us even submitting against our will to a generational glamor placed upon us from by the Holy Church of Rome in order to avoid being slain during those years after the Crusades by the Inquisition. I've served with Colonel O'Neill all over the world and even on other worlds for years now and I've always hid part of my identity as we feared that if humans knew they weren't the only race native to Earth that they would turn on us like they did so long ago."

It was Admiral Giles who spoke next, "It seems whatever caused many of us to be turned into who we dressed as for Halloween also lifted the glamors hiding Colonel Makepeace's and Major Ferreti's people. Now that we have possible rebirths of some races and the births of others you Mister President and the other world leaders will have to decide how you will deal with this. As it stands right now the Vilani, Zhodani, Romulan, Vulcan, Klingon, Elven, and other races now on this ship and the AUGUSTUS and perhaps even in the displacement camps near Bakersfield and Barstow are and always have been American citizens or at least resident aliens prior to their transformations or even revelations. These people are your fellow citizens as are most of the members of the Terran Confederation Navy as it exist now. I am a Subject of her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, but the rest of my crew including Jana Kalderash aka Jenny Calendar are American citizens. You need to decide just how you are going to deal with this new world post Halloween. You need to be wise in your decision sir. The fate of our peoples depends on it. We have enemies in this universe and beyond who would love to strike us while we are divided and unable to unite to resist."

President Ryan took all this in and nodded before he spoke, "I will have to talk with the other leaders of the world's major nations, but since most of those affected by the Halloween Effect are American citizens or resident aliens like yourself Admiral Giles I will first issue and executive order recognizing those people who are or weren't human, but are Americans citizenship and the rights and obligations granted by that status. I will also issue a second one recognizing the status of all resident aliens and offering asylum to those rejected by their homelands because of the changes or even revelations altering their racial status. Then I will go before Congress seeking legislation making those orders into permanent law."

Ryan looked again at the HTDT's display seeing the devastated area that was once the cities and counties of Sunnydale and Santa Barbara, California. The ruins could be rebuilt in time, but for years the nation will have a reminder of just how the world changed over the last twenty four hours and just what destruction it avoided. Then he looked at ground zero for the first barrage of the heavy meson cannon. There at where UC Sunnydale once stood or rather underneath it was a facility sponsored by the NID, an organization without oversight that was Congress' oversight of the nation's Intelligence and Special Operations communities. "I see I also have other issues resulting from this last evening's exposures. I need to talk to one Senator Robert McKinsey on just what he was thinking by letting the NID authorize the program your Marines discovered in the facility below the Sunnydale campus of the University of California Admiral Giles."

Colonel O'Neill at the mention of his most recent political nemesis looked to the President and nodded. "I see the good Senator's personal empire has stretched even to the secret war against the supernatural. I wonder if it was his deep seated fundamentalist religious beliefs driving him to support this Frankenstein operation."

Ryan soaked in O'Neill's comment and said, "Well that will be on the agenda for my discussion with him. I will not have some man's individual ambitions threatening the safety of our nation. I swore an oath to protect the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic as did you all and as did he. I am going to hold him to that oath and hopefully make him see that actions like supporting the Demon Research Initiative put him in danger of becoming an enemy domestic." Then Ryan stood straight up and said, "Robbie as of this day I am closing down whatever is left of the DRI. All military assets will be returned to their parent forces and all civilian assets liquidated."

With the discovery of the deaths of Dr. Walsh and Col McNamara by Force Captain Finn's Marine Commandos the history of this facility of the DRI was over. Ryan looked at VADM Giles and saw him now as the commander of an international force, one that currently had no civilian oversight, but one that was dedicated to the defense of Earth from both extraterrestrial threats and now extradimensional ones too. He knew that this force could not be used by the nations of Earth to strike at their earthly opponents. What was needed was some organization that would see to the civilian oversight and keep the Terran Confederation Navy and its associated Marine Corps on target for defending Earth and not suppressing its homeworld.

MAIN MESS HALL TCS INTREPID THAT SAME TIME

NCIS Special Agent Gibbs had been given leave to take a break while SECNAV was on the Bridge with President Ryan and the others. So Gibb went to the ship's mess hall to get a snack and some coffee. The ship was using the robotic crew as there weren't enough human or other organic crewmen capable of running the kitchen and service line at this time. The Mess Steward Robots were good at making a rather scientifically correct pot of coffee and other food and drink, but it didn't have the taste of food or beverages made by the more imprecise and inefficient humans. The food would feed you and the drink would refresh you, but it lacked character and taste.

As he drank his coffee and ate a sandwich he saw Lieutenants Thrace, Edmondson, Lehane, and Barolay enter the Mess Hall and go through the serving line. The first too and the last one seemed to react negatively to the mechanical crewmembers as they took their food and drinks. Only Nightshade or Lieutenant Junior Grade Faith Lehane didn't. The four Naval Aviators came over to the table he sat at. He suspected that since he was the only other organic person in the Mess Hall at this time they wanted to be with him rather than near the robots.

It was LTJG Lehane who spoke when they came over, "May we sit here with you Agent?"

"Gibbs, Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs and yes you may Lieutenant," Gibbs replied as he stood as they approached harking back to his training as a Marine.

Thrace looked the older Special Agent over. She saw a look she'd seen before on the Marines of Galactica and even in that life she lived later during the years of the Ninth Interstellar War against the Vilani. Gibbs had served in the military. His bearing spoke of that service. His hair was cut in a military style. When he stood it was like he was assuming the position of attention in the presence of superior officers. It was only that he was now a civilian that perhaps kept him from saluting them when they approached his table. "At ease Marine," Thrace said and saw him take a more relaxed stance. "How long have you been out of the service Marine?" she asked.

"I left active service in late 1991 after returning home from Iraq and the Gulf War. I've been with first NIS or Naval Investigative Service and NCIS or Naval Criminal Investigative Service since. I still serve and am a Gunnery Sergeant with a Marine Corps Reserve Military Police Company out of Arlington, Virginia where I pull duty one weekend a month," Gibbs said as he now stood at a more relaxed stance while talking with the TCN pilots. He only sat back down after all four women did.

Thrace smiled at the Gunny as she remembered a later event when she and Longshot accidentally found this Earth long ago. In this timeline the event was yet to happen, but time paradoxes were that way. She and Sam Anders were on scout in a Raptor ahead of the Fleet trying to escape Cavil's Cylons. They had jumped accidentally through a rift in time and space. When they came out they were a few more years into the future that she was now and had set down in the D.C. area to repair their ship.

While Starbuck and Anders had traded some of their gold cubits in a coin shop in a neighborhood where most of the people spoke some native form of Caprican she had witnessed the murder of a Marine. The local police had taken her in and then transferred custody to Agent Gibbs and his team as the crime had been the murder of a Marine and NCIS investigated crimes involving or against members of the Navy or Marine Corps. The police didn't have anyone who could speak the local version of Caprican anyways.

In NCIS custody Thrace learned that Gibbs knew Greek or the local dialect of Caprican. So now since the four pilots used that language rather than English amongst themselves she spoke to Gibbs in it to see if this was the same man she would meet later, "So Gunny how'd you wind up on the Fighting I?"

Gibbs' Greek wasn't all that fresh, but he did a year in the East Med and was assigned three years to the U.S. Embassy in Greece before going into the Marine Scout Sniper Program. Then there was the DOD's Language Program. He smiled at Thrace as she asked him what brought him up to the INTREPID. She'd used the old World War Two nickname for this ship's namesake, but he understood her just fine so he said, "I'm initially here to protect the SECNAV or Secretary of the Navy, but since your Command Bridge is guarded by a squad of your Marines and a six man team from the Secret Service's Presidential Protection Detail Special Agent Mike Franks and I were overkill. So we came down here for some coffee and something to eat."

Mike Franks had picked up a cup of coffee and a ham sandwich from the chow line and followed the four pilots to the table where Probie was sitting. "These ladies causing you any trouble Probie?" Mike asked before taking a sip of his coffee. Gibbs looked up at his partner smiling.

"No, no trouble at all Mike," Gibbs said still using Greek, "The Lieutenant was asking what brought us up to the INTREPID is all." Then he looked back at Thrace and said, "Where in Greece do you come from? I can't place the accent."

Thrace smiled, "I'd say the region of Thrace, but that would be a lie. No I came with the ship as did Racetrack," she pointed at LTJG Edmondson, "and Red." She then pointed at LTJG Barolay. "Now Nightshade over there, she came with your all so to speak. She's an Earth native and a long time ago had she let us know that then we'd of been your ancestors a whole lot sooner."

Gibbs looked a mixture of surprised and skeptical at the dark haired woman LT Thrace called Nightshade, "How is that true Lieutenant…" he took a look at her name tag on her flight suit, "…Lehane?" Then he did an assessment of the woman before him. This can't be the Faith Lehane who Mike and I are looking for, she just can't be. She's too old by about five to ten years.

Nightshade or LTJG Faith Lehane as her name tag said spoke then, "It is a long story from another lifetime and perhaps another universe ago, but I met these three long ago in a world long gone now or should I say twelve worlds long gone now. It seems I'm a champion of the Powers that Be and they won't let anyone or anything take me from them. Not a maniacal monster of a master vampire and most definitely not a homicidal maniac of a synthetic human called John Cavil. Agent Gibbs let's just say I'm way older than I look and at the same time much younger." Faith took a bit of her sandwich and followed that with a swig of her coffee. Looking from Agent Franks to Agent Gibbs both of who were heavily interested in her now she asked, "Why are you two so fired up about little old me?"

Mike looked at the four female naval aviators across from him and Gibbs. He'd decided to sit on Probie's side of the table and attached benches after seeing the four ladies take the side opposite Gibbs. "Well," he began, "Probie and me recently investigated the murder of a Lieutenant Commander Diana Dormer and the disappearance of her adopted daughter Faith Lehane Lieutenant. And no sooner than Probie and I take a break from guarding the Secretary of the Navy then we find you young lady looking like an older version of the late Lieutenant Commander's sixteen year old daughter. What are you Lieutenant? Twenty one, no wait you'd have to be at least twenty four to be a Lieutenant Junior Grade. So what is it Lieutenant Lehane? Now don't be getting scared and all on us, SECNAV and the Director NCIS want Probie and me to find you and see that you're safe. You see we're you knew Watchers Probie and I."

Thrace looked concerned for Nightshade's safety then after hearing what Agent Franks said and asked, "What do you mean?" This time she switched over to English, something the Lords of Kobol ensured she knew. "Why does Nightshade need a pair of Watchers?" She looked over at Faith and asked another question on the heels of the second, "What trouble is she facing now?" Thrace had been assigned as one of three guardians for Nightshade by the Lords or Olympians to safeguard the champion from danger and to aid her in the coming troubles. The other two were Racetrack and Red. Now these two Navy Cops were saying they'd been assigned to be Faith's watchers. Yet it was Faith who answered before either Agent Franks or Agent Gibbs could and before even Red could.

"Starbuck, I'm a Potential as in Potential Slayer. Normally by the time a Potential is my physical age she is beyond being able to be called. The Slayer is usually a lonely young teenaged girl between twelve and eighteen sometimes as old as nineteen, but usually around fifteen when she's called. She's empowered by the Powers that Be in the name of the Creator and the Lords of Kobol to fight the darkness of the supernatural." Faith looked down at her sandwich on the paper plate before her shaking her head and said, "Man I'd hoped that being matured by the Gods and sent here saved me from that world. Gods damn it, Whistler sent me to you Starbuck, you and the Colonials all those years ago to help guide you all here to this world. Now it seems the Gods need me still."

Faith shook her head trying to clear that unwanted thought from her head before she picked up her coffee cup and in the time it took her to put it to her lips for another swig a voice spoke to her in that same head. "Are you ready to be strong my sister and daughter?" In the dreamscape world she looked out upon a woman dressed like the primitive native humans of Earth she met so long ago looked at her eye to eye and asked the question again.

Faith not knowing everyone else around her could hear her answer said, "Yes, I'm ready to be strong." Then the dreamscape flashed from her vision to be replaced by the INTREPID's Main Mess Hall. Before she could recover her composure she clinched her hands around her ceramic coffee cup and broke it sending stoneware shards and coffee splashes everywhere.

Mike Franks NCIS Special Agent and Senior Field Watcher of the American Watcher's Council took hold of Nightshade's hands to calm her and said in a soothing voice, "Calm down Slayer, Probie and I will teach you to control your new powers and to fight the creatures you've been chosen to fight. Unlike those boys and girls from the Tweed Brigade across the pond we'll see you don't get short changed on the training or have to live hand to mouth. Gibbs and I are former Marines and each of us is a combat veteran. We can train you to fight the creatures that haunt most people's nightmares." He looked at the other three women with them and saw that they too were willing to help and it was Starbuck or LT Thrace that spoke for them.

"Agent we, that is, myself, Margret Edmondson, and Jean Barolay," said Starbuck as she pointed at the other two in order as she spoke, "will help train her. It's been a long time I think since she was last this Slayer you talk of except for slaying Cylons thousands of years ago and Vilani fighter pilots a few hundred years from now in a war yet to come."

Faith smiled at everyone as she sensed that the two older men were willing to truly help her and part of that help will be seeing that she lives. This time around she won't be on her own or be so vulnerable as to fall victim to the Mayor's wiles and smooth seductive voice.

INTREPID SICKBAY A WEEK AFTER STERILIZATION AND OVER ONE WEEK FROM HALLOWEEN

Lieutenant Harmony Kendall had been very busy for the last week. Her small hospital handled the number of patients it was design for, but with less than ten percent of the staff usually assigned. She had drafted local doctors and nurses rescued as Sunnydale's Memorial Hospital was being overrun by the loathsome monsters that were once citizens of Sunnydale and western Santa Barbara, California. She also pressed into service some of the Romulans, Vulcans, Starfleet Humans and Klingons with medical training along with a few Zhodani, Geonee, and Suerrat who seemed to have been sucked from their time and place by the Vilani Temporal Distortion Device. Her best pair of doctors was one Gaius Balt and his wife Giana. The Balts ran a local medical research company and also had a working knowledge of cloning, genetics, and tissue growing and grafting.

Harmony was wrapping of the day's log when Dr. Gaius Balt knocked on the frame to the hatchway into her office and said, "Major Maine is awake now." Major Andrea Louise Maine it seemed had dressed up like Harmony had as her Traveller character. Yet Major Maine was in fact also a Major in the California Army National Guard and an instructor in Military History, Tactics, and Combat Engineering in the Army ROTC battalion formerly located at UC Sunnydale. From the record downloaded from Maine's wristcomp and from files recovered from UC Sunnydale before the sterilization operation yesterday Harmony and CAPT Harris had learned that the Major was the Executive Officer of the 291st Engineer Battalion (Combat) CAARNG. Her TCA (Terran Confederation Army) records showed that in that timeline she commanded the 226th Engineer Company (Combat). During her service in the Ninth Interstellar War Major Maine was awarded the Combat Action Badge and was put in for the Terran Bronze Star and the Terran Silver Star for two separate engagements where her timely and valorous destruction of bridges thwarted Vilani ground attacks into the Terran rear areas on at least two different worlds. As of the time of the transferal of her memories to her ancestor these medals had not yet been authorized and awarded. Here in Sunnydale the Major had again shown she was an asset to the California Army National Guard, the United States Army, and the Terran Confederation Army.

Harmony found herself reading citations from Force Captain Isabela Freilander, Force Captain Riley Finn, and Captain Elizabeth Summers, as well as one from one of the Klingon Imperial Marine offices who Harm had trouble pronouncing the name of and another by Colonel Jonathan "Jack" O'Neill. Harm looked up from her reading and said to Dr. Balt, "How is she doing?"

"The Major is responding to treatment and has not been infected nor will the cuts and scratches from the walkers leave any scars on her face. My wife is pretty good at cosmetic surgery as well as regular medicine Lieutenant." Dr. Balt, Gaius looked both smug and proud of his wife at the same time as he spoke. "I believe the Major will recover fully and be ready for duty in about a day or two. She'll still need to come back for follow-ups or go to a military doctor dirt side for them." Balt was wearing a white lab coat over US Navy issue duty dress khakis.

While he was aboard the President through the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had issued an emergency declaration of which one of the provisions had activated all reservists aboard the TCS INTREPID. Doctors Gaius and Giana Balt were each Lieutenants in the United States Navy Reserve and thus they fell under that paragraph of President Ryan's declaration. This declaration was why Harmony was authorized to treat Major Maine as well. Major Maine and the survivors of both her ROTC cadets and the 291st were aboard the INTREPID and all found themselves in the Army now. Harm had treated twenty cadets and Army combat engineers. These were all who were left of both battalions. The Battle of Sunnydale and the Battle of West Santa Barbara had whittled many units who found themselves trapped in the hot zone to mere ghosts of their former selves. Most of the United States forces responding to the crisis fell to the infection only to rise up and be a threat to their former comrades in arms.

Harm picked up her tablet which had her remaining patients' charts in its database and did her rounds starting with MAJ Maine. She stopped by the Major's bed in one of the long term treatment wards and said, "How are you doing Major?" It may not look it at this time, but the bandages on the Major's face once they came off would reveal one only barely marred by any scaring. The Major's broken bones would heal as well and she was lucky to not have been bitten or deeply cut by the talons the creatures had instead of finger nails. "Major you are one truly lucky woman. I've read the after action reports from Colonel O'Neill and Force Captains Freilander and Finn. I've also read the citations they've written about this last action. Frankly from what I know of operations before the glassing of Sunnydale and western Santa Barbara you and the twenty cadets and National Guardsmen found with you were lucky to make it out alive."

MAJ Maine looked at the woman talking to her and nodded. Currently with the intubation tube in her mouth and throat she couldn't speak so she just nodded or shook her head when the female Navy doctor asked her about her present state of health. The doctor looked at her and said, "By the way I'm Lieutenant Harmony Kendall the Acting Chief Medical Officer of the Terran Confederation Strike Cruiser INTREPID. Now is there anything we can get you sir?" MAJ Maine grimaced at the use of the masculine pronoun when referring to superior officers of either sex, but otherwise let it go as communications were rather limited at the moment. She did however pantomime writing on a table for LT Kendall. Dr. Kendall nodded and said, "We'll see you get a table and a stylus to write with on it." That wasn't quite what Andrea wanted, but she nodded in acceptance after which the Lieutenant turned and went to the next bed separated from her by only an opaque plastic or cloth curtain.

She knew that she was suffering from the early stages of PTSD because of the nightmares and daytime flashbacks she had, bur for MAJ Maine the Battles of Sunnydale and West Santa Barbara were worse than the trench breaching and minefield clearing operations during Desert Storm. She had taken her Cadets who from her memories of Halloween night and the week that followed had performed well first as the characters they had dressed up as from the game Traveller. They assumed the identities of the soldiers, NCOs, and officers of the 2/567th Infantry Battalion (Lift) before the ROTC Cadet Battalion Halloween ball and dinner. One of the wealthier cadets footed the bill for everyone to have a Terran Confederation Dress Uniform, three sets of TCA BDUs, and a full set of combat gear including assault boots, ballistic helmets, tactical vests with MOLLE webbing, wristcomps (everyone thought those were cool props), and weapons (the Battalion used ACRs or Advanced Combat Rifles which resembled the L85 bullpup style carbine the British use and pistols resembling the USP developed by Heckler and Koch. Everyone thought the weapons were just airsoft props, but now that she remembered being Major Andrea Louise Maine of the Terran Confederation Army she knew all those pieces of gear, armor, and weapons were real worked for the twelve hours everyone was under the effects of the Ethan Rayne Spell or the Halloween Effect.

The funny thing was that after everyone's memories returned twelve hours later the weapons, armor and gear remained real and she had to combine the Cadet Battalion now going by the 2/567th LIFT INFANTRY with the 291st Combat Engineer Battalion during the fight to evacuate as many civilians out of the hot zone as could humanly be done. The 2/567th had air/ rafts, G-Carriers, and Grav-APCs that once were the Cadet Battalion's Humvees, Duce and a Halves, and vintage M113A2 Gavin APCs. The 291st was still just an ordinary tech level eight or late twentieth century Army National Guard unit. That is it was under manned, well trained, and short of the more advanced pieces of equipment her sister units in the Regular Army and the higher FAD units in the Army Guard had.

Most of the two battalions' companies had made it to the Safe Zone, but HHC 291st Cbt Eng. and A Company 2/567th were cut off by the Zombie Horde from escaping at a cul-de-sac. That battle was where most of Andrea's current nightmares and flashbacks were coming from. She remembered that her people had ran out of nearly every kind of ammo from the .40 S&W used by the USPs to the 5.5mm electrothermal cartridges used by the ACRs and the 9mmP for the M9s and 5.56x45mm used by the M16A1s of the 291st. By the time the combined companies were down to less than a full platoon they were using pickaxes, shovels, axes, and other pioneer tools to melee with the monsters. What was worse than anything was the fact that those killed early in the battle had risen up and were now the enemy. She had to kill her own sister who had been the Command Sergeant Major of the 291st.

At this moment Andrea replayed that horrific moment ending with her putting her last .40 round between Becky's eyes. The whole battle of 1630 Revello Drive was one long nightmare. They were forced first into the house from the circular hasty field fort made up of their vehicles. Then their numbers depleted to around twenty they withdrew up to the second floor. By that time someone must have heard their calls of distress as they heard renewed sounds of fighting to their front behind the pressing mass of undead inhumanity. Her last action before passing out was her being stopped from striking a Marines in Combat Armor by another and that second Marine saying, "It's over ma'am we've come to evacuate you and what's left of your people to the INTREPID." The next thing Andrea remembered was waking up in this ward.

Andrea knew now that the world was going to be different for her, her Engineers and her Cadets. But for her now her mission was to get better. From what she remembered the male doctor had said, "Major you're very lucky to have escaped with minor scratches and small cuts. None of these were infected with the Virus. Despite the loss of life your task force destroyed ten times its number in Zeds." Then he took her vitals and went on to check on other patients and to inform the CMO of her revival. She could learn to live with the nightmares and flashbacks because to have them you have to be alive and not mutated into a mindless ever ravenous zombie. She passed again into a morphine induced slumber after a nurse adjusted her drip.

ALPHA CENTAURI ALPHA SYSTEM TCS AMELIA EARHART 34 FROM ALPHA CENTAURI ALPHA 3 IN TRANSIT FROM ALPHA CENTAURI ALPHA 4

Lursa looked at the printout coming from the communications suite. She took the page from the printer's tray. She had learned Federation English during the time of the Alliance between the Empire and the Federation and Terran Confederation English wasn't that different from Federation. "Warren Mears seems to have established a colony on the third planet which he calls Prometheus," Lursa told Laura as she handed the printout to her new Captain.

Laura nodded and said, "Yes, the third planet of this system though slightly larger than Earth and with a slightly denser atmosphere was called Prometheus in my timeline. I guess Warren kept with the name. It makes sense to call the planet something he already knew. Too bad there is such a delay in voice and audio-visual communications at this range. For FTL communications Lursa we're still limited to the speed of our starships. In the case of Amelia and Warren's Leonidas that is a week spent jumping two parsecs at most."

Lursa nodded at what Laura said, "Yes and that week we spent travelling here from Earth was spent with Divok and me learning Amelia's systems with your and her help." They had run Lursa through several simulations using the Co-Pilot's suite in training mode and Divok in the Gunner's Suite and the Engineer's Suite in the same mode. They had much to learn yet, but now were rated at an intermediate level of skill for their stations on the small ship with Lursa also learning the Gunner's Suite and the Engineer's. This voyage from Alpha Centauri Alpha Four to Prometheus or Alpha Centauri Alpha Three would both tax and expand her navigational skills. She had to not so much unlearn Warp Navigation, but to alter her previous knowledge or rather the knowledge passed on to her from the original Lursa from that other timeline through their shared memories.

Lursa had formally adopted her namesake's identity in this universe because she knew now that the changes to her and Divok and possibly others who dress as Klingons were permanent. The New Klingons were children of Earth just as the humans many of them were before the transformation. Lursa knew that if they came across the planet of Qo'nos which is pronounced Kronos that it would likely not be the home world of her race. The Sunnydale Klingons are all natives of Earth so that world is their mother not Qo'nos. From her memories or rather the other Lursa's she still possessed she knew that Qo'nos was well outside known space. It seemed that for some reason Amelia had star charts for all periods from the time of the Terran Confederation to that of the Third Imperium and Qo'nos according to her memories and the data she had on her KIN issue tricorder which she was able to upload into Amelia's memory via a shipboard Wi-Fi link lay beyond the Aslan Hierate. From what she read from the Library data that Amelia had down loaded from the Third Imperium's ships it was a good thing that the Earth had not yet encountered the Aslan. That lion like race were as warlike as the Klingons and Earth at this point in time would not be able to stand up to them.

The one thing she learned so far from space travel with the technology of the Terran Confederation, Vilani Ziru Sirka and the later Third Imperium you had lots of time to improve yourself. Lursa took as much advantage of that as she could. She knew that for her race to survive here they had to prove they were of use. This Earth wasn't the Federation's and her people weren't the humans of the Federation either. These humans had for the most part the hearts if not the souls of Klingons. From reading the information on the Ziru Sirka Lursa was glade she found herself a native of Earth and not one of the human worlds controlled by Vland. Even the Vulcans and Romulans didn't suppress the development of technology like the Vilani did.

The Vilani were pragmatists, but they also were slow to change. This when they are encountered by the new Terrans will be their downfall Lursa thought as she read her latest lesson on Earth and its future history. It would be another thirty four hours to Prometheus and a person to person meeting with Captain Warren Mears and his crew as well as the accidental colonists of Prometheus and the village they were building called New Sunnydale.

PROMETHEUS ALPHA CENTAURI ALPHA SYSTEM

Warren Mears sat in the Crew Lounge going over the layout he and his father, one of Sunnydale's premier architects and civil engineers had designed. His dad looked at him and Warren saw that his father was proud of him in how he handled this hand dealt to them. Warren shuddered to think just what would have happened to him if things hadn't been changed by the events of Halloween night. Now he and the sixty or so people including his crew less Tucker's youngest brother were on the verge of walking in the footsteps of the English who settled in Jamestown and Plymouth.

They had some advantages though. Their ship could make the round trip to Earth and back in less time than the Mayflower could make the round trip to England. Thanks to whatever magic or serendipity befell them there were enough supplies to go a year before one had to worry about a good harvest. Another thing was one of the refugees now a colonist was the Head Agronomy Professor at UC-Sunnydale and another had worked for NASA at JPL near LA. Two more were involved in the support group for the Biosphere project. Together with his dad these men and women had designed the colony of New Sunnydale on the planet of Prometheus in the Alpha Centauri Alpha system. Warren's input was on placement of the Class D Space Port near the water.

They had chosen the sea coastal harbor over the lake harbor in the valley because it had the best access to the rest of the continent once they had some seaworthy boats or ships built. Two of the colonists before Halloween had ran one of Sunnydale's marinas and owned also a company that built fishing boats and small ships, mostly yachts. Tomas Sandoval had grown up along the Pacific Coast of Mexico and helped his father build fishing boats before the family moved to the United States escaping troubles with the Cartel's in their part of Mexico. In Sunnydale they built and operated a marina and a small fishing fleet. George Kohl grew up in Hamburg in Germany and learned the shipwright's trade in technical school and by apprenticing in the shipyards of that city. Between Tomas and George they had an idea for building sail powered sloops that could double as scout ships and fishing boats.

The colonists had already begun to build New Sunnydale. The biggest advantage for them was that part of Warren's cargo on LEONIDAS was several containers holding two or three prefabricated cabins. These cabins were small structures with a bedroom, fresher, living room/ dining room, and kitchen that could be put together in a matter of hours with tools and instructions provided in the kit. There were also containers holding a prefabricated community center with included school, medical clinic, and administrative center along with an institutional kitchen and mess hall. Warren looked at the manifest and realized that his cargo was for building an Israeli Kibbutz on Calgary.

"Dad, I just reread the manifest for this cargo. The reason it has the shelters, the community building, the year's supply of provisions, and the armory is that in the other timeline a Kibbutz from Israel was moving from there to Calgary," Warren said as he showed Warren Mears Sr. the tablet with the manifest showing. "We also have enough arms to train the adults as the Colonial Militia of New Sunnydale. We have the Tech Level Eleven versions of the Israeli Galil rifle, the German H&K USP pistol and UMP sub-machinegun, and Remington Model 870 pump shotgun. Then besides the weapon there were containers with seed bags of organic corn, wheat, and barley. Other seed kits included organic beans (pinto, kidney, red, etc.), potatoes (red, white, and golden), onions, and leafy vegetables such as kale, collard greens, spinach, etc. There were seedlings for apple, lemon, orange, peach, cherry, and lime trees.

Within another container there was a plow for use behind an air/ raft or a G-Carrier. This meant that Warren would have to leave behind his air/ raft so that any fields plotted could be plowed. Well it would be a sacrifice to ensure the survival of this colony. "Dad, I'm going to leave the air/ raft when I go back to Earth. This plow is designed to be pulled by it or a G-Carrier. Since the General Gravitics' Air/ Raft is likely the only one for some time in civilian hands you'll take good care of her, right?"

Warren Senior looked at the man the event turned his only son into and said with pride, "Yes Warren we'll take care of her. Now what's in these two livestock containers?" Warren Senior then pointed to a couple of containers on the manifest that were listed as having life support systems and perhaps some sort of low berths built in. They were listed as being small livestock containers. One had goats and sheep, and the other chickens and rabbits.

"Dad in the game Traveller some of the shipping containers were designed for the transport of living livestock. These two seem to be setup as low berth modules specifically to carry small livestock such as animals from the size of sheep or goats down to rabbits and chickens. It seems the first one has a mixed cargo of pigmy goats and some small breed of sheep. You have breeding stock for each species it seems."

Warren Senior nodded in understanding. Warren's dad before he went off to college at UC Berkley had grown up on a farm in California's Central Valley. That farm had orange groves, peach orchards, cherry orchards, about 500 head of cattle, half that many horses, and about 1200 sheep. The Mears Ranch was one of the largest operations at the time nearly rivalling the old Barkley Ranch up near Sacramento. "Ok Warren, I will work with the others to manage our small flocks so we don't use the breeding stock for food. Besides several of the cargo containers seem to have enough food for a colony twice our size to last them about two years. We shouldn't go through any of it that fast."

Warren nodded saying, "Great dad, now who do we claim New Sunnydale for? I mean when we left Earth I still thought I was my descendant Captain Warren Mears of Mears Trading. Yet I guess I still am in a way." Warren looked around the Crew Lounge then back at his father. "Let's draft up a business charter and with the others a city and colonial charter. The business charter will be for Mears Trading LLC and the other two will be the founding documents of the community we're going to build here."

Warren Senior looked thoughtful for a few seconds before replying then said, "Since we rescued your Uncle Sidney, my younger brother and his family too let's get his help in drafting the business charter. He's a lawyer with some experience with business law as well as civil and criminal law. Perhaps he can help us with drafting the colonial and city charters too."

Around that time Tucker came out of the Bridge with another message from the TCS Amelia Earhart. He was smiling that cockeye grin he got when he thought something was funny. "Warren, remember Larry Blaisdell?" Tucker saw both Warren and Warren Senior nod. "Well he dressed up as Lieutenant Commander Laura Blaisdell and in now permanently her." With that Tucker chuckled a bit before handing over LCDR Blaisdell's latest message.

Warren took it and read it smirking as he read the part telling what happened to Larry and then getting a more serious look on his face when he got to the part that Laura was coming under orders to see if the passengers and crew of the LEONIDAS were safe and well. "Well I guess we'll have to include a small naval facility with the space and starport dad. It seems we have the presence in system of a Terran Confederation Navy Exploration Ship. In later timelines of the game this type of ship is called a Scout Ship. It seems Larry dressed up for Halloween as his character Lieutenant Commander Laura Blaisdell of the Terran Confederation Navy's Exploration and Communications Command. Now he's permanently she. I guess she'll need to talk to Uncle Sidney too concerning getting her documentation all converted over to Laura from Larry. Anyways Laura is coming to check on our safety. If something goes bad in an extra-solar way I don't think her lone scout ship will be much of a defense though, but she can help train the colony's militia. The scout ship will give us another means of communications back with Earth though. Too bad we didn't develop faster than like signal communications something like a Star Trek based subspace radio could come in real handy about now."

Warren handed Senior the message and his father smirked about the former Larry Blaisdell's personal plight then looked up at Warren saying, "I think that she has Tucker's younger brother Terry with her as well as the now adult children of those two Klingon Marines we picked up." Senior was referring to Klingon Imperial Marine Corps Majors Vrenn and Milvi Qua'lon. Vrenn was a human before the Halloween Event and a Captain in the 118th Infantry Regiment (Mechanized) California Army National Guard and managed the Sunnydale facilities of General Dynamic's. The GD facilities were one of the few working factories in the heavily hyped up Westside Industrial Park. Now as Vrenn Qua'lon he was a Major of Marine Infantry in the Klingon Imperial Marine Corps and by a vote of the colony's adults was made the Captain of New Sunnydale's small Militia. Luckily for the colony Vrenn remembered his training not only as a Klingon Marine, but as a United States Army Infantry Officer.

Now as for Milvi Qua'lon she was one of just two doctors and in her previous human life she had been the Chief Medical Officer of the Air Nation Guard unit stationed at Joint Forces Base Sunnydale. She also had a private clinic she ran between drills and annual training missions. Milvi had the memories of her being a Major in the KIMC's Medical Corps. It seems that unlike the USMC and its descendent the TCMC the KIMC had its own Medical Corps separate from the Klingon Imperial Navy's. Warren Senior had called up those dossiers so he could come up with a better plan for what to build first in the colony. It was decided that the prefab cabins and community center were priorities before any machine shops, but now that they have some livestock they will need shelters for the animals as well.

"Ok Warren," Senior began to say to Junior, "I and the other adults will see to the construction of the cabins and the community center with the first priority being the cabins. From what I've seen the instructions for their erecting are very simple and easy to follow. I think we could use some of the larger containers for shelters for the sheep and the goats and modify the two livestock containers for shelters for the chickens and rabbits." Senior had been working his tablet the whole time he was talking over things with his son. He then showed him some plans he cooked up on the fly saying, "Here are my ideas for the layout of the village of New Sunnydale of the Colony of New California." He handed the tablet over to Warren to read and look over. "I think we need to get with the rest and discuss what we need to for you to get when you go back to Earth and register our settlement. I think the land titles should be done in Sacramento as well as the incorporation papers of our space freight company."

Warren looked them over then said, "These are good dad, but I think I will also recruit some geologists and perhaps mining engineers. I think the people I recruit should have prospecting experience too. We're going to need some exports to earn New California and New Sunnydale needed capital. I think we'll register as the United States Territory of New California. That way we can attract more settlers with time. Perhaps once we have more ships like the LEONIDAS other nations can establish settlements on other parts of Prometheus. I mean it's a large world and a big frontier. We may have just solved Earth's population issues without resorting to drastic measures like China's one child policy." Warren Senior smiled at his son as the younger man's face lit up with the idea of opening Prometheus to settlement. It could be a way Mears Trading could also earn needed capital. After all transporting settlers and supplies for their settlements could earn the family lots of Dollars, Euros, Pounds, and any other currency you could name from Earth.

"Let's get this settlement up and running first Warren. As we get the village laid out and the cabins and community center built we'll draft a list of supplies we'll need. I think between me and your Uncle there is enough wealth back home for the family to use for our supplies. Well get a shopping list drafted from every family here then we'll send you and LEO back to Earth to get what we discover we need."

Warren looked at his father and said, "I agree dad, but you've got to understand even though it's only a little over four light years from here to Earth it will take me about three weeks to a month to complete the mission. That's one week FTL transit between here and Earth, one to two weeks gathering supplies and equipment we'll need, and another week transit back to Prometheus. One of the constraints with Jump Drive is no matter how far you travel in a single jump it takes one week to get there." Warren saw that his dad understood from the way Senior nodded. "Good dad, now let's get together with the others and get this colony started. Damn we're going to have to contract with Boeing or Lockheed-Martin to build more ships like Leo if we're going to get serious with colonizing this world and perhaps others within in the Alpha Centauri triple star system."

Warren Senior smiled at his son's maturity. It seems that the gravity of their situation had made a man out of the boy in a man's body. Warren Junior may not have followed in Senior's footsteps due to the Halloween Event, but the man he became because of it made Senior very proud. The path Junior was on before would have led, Senior felt into much darkness. He was sure the family would not have survived that path's challenges. This altering of destiny was just what the family needed.

EARTH ORBIT IN THE TCS INTREPID'S WAR ROOM THAT SAME DAY

It was President Ryan's third trip up to the INTREPID since the Sterilization of Sunnydale and West Santa Barbara. This time he was aboard with the Prime Ministers of Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, the Chancellor of Germany, the Russian President, the French President, the Israeli Prime Minister (Israel of the US' allies was not going to be left out), the Chinese President, the Japanese Prime Minister and their senior military and diplomatic advisors.

Vice Admiral Rupert Giles looked on as the delegations from the countries who accepted President Ryan's invitation to this conference settled into their places around the larger HALOGRAPHIC TACTICAL DISPLAY TABLE. He turned it on and had Alice put up the current image of Earth and its tactical situation. In orbit were the TCS INTREPID, the TCS AUGUSTUS, the four Fiery-Class Gunned Escorts and the five Puller-Class Assault Ships. The smaller ships were practicing Orbital Assaults using Fort Irwin as their target. The reconstituted Terran Confederation Marine Corps consisting of barely an understrength Marine Line Battalion was conducting training operations getting those who were allowed to remain as who they were transformed into trained up on the technology and tactics of the TCMC. The integration of the former Third Imperium personnel had been easier than the integration of those who became Starfleet, Romulan, Klingon, or Cardassian personnel. Yet getting them to work together seemed to be the job of a select cadre from the TCMC's 234th Ship's Security Company. Staff Sergeant Napple Baenrahel and Sergeant Aura Arabrahel had the other aliens and the former Federation humans toeing the line and adapting to how the TCMC does things.

Now the Dog and Pony show about to be presented to the distinguished guests invited by President Ryan was being performed by Major Isabela Freilander's Marine Line Company and Major Riley Finn's Marine Commando Company. Their mission was to show what a fully trained Marine Corps Line Unit is capable of. The Pullers would after dropping off Major Freilander and her Marine Line Lift Infantry Company return to orbit and provide Orbital Artillery support or ORTILLERY. "Gentleman incase President Ryan has not introduced me, I'm Vice Admiral Rupert Giles Commander of the Reconstituted Terran Confederation Navy and Terran Confederation Marine Corps. We are an international planetary defense force and will not be used by any of you to force an enemy nation to comply except when that nation is in gross violation of international law. Now that I've said that what we brought you all up here for is a demonstration of just what we can do once we're are fully funded, trained, and equipped."

Giles picked up the handset of a ship's phone and held it like a hand microphone. He cleared his throated and said, "Captain Harris you may begin operations." He looked on at the rest of those in the WAR ROOM and said, "Now gentlemen if you will direct your attention to the holographic display before you. As you see we have in orbit an understrength TCN STRIKE GROUP. Normally this force would have four Strike Cruisers like the INTREPID, eight Destroyers like the AUGUSTUS, six landing ships dock, a hospital ship, four logistics ships, and twenty Fiery-Class Gunned Escorts and up to forty of the Puller-Class Assault Ships. The Halloween Event left us with just what you see and this is all the Starfleet Earth has at this time besides one Fremont-Class Exploration Ship on detached duty to the Alpha Centauri Alpha system and a Hero-Class private merchant in the same system."

As the delegations watched the smaller ships, the Fieries and the Pullers moved into position and the INTREPID changed its aspect to again aim its primary weapon at an impact area on the Fort Irwin reservation. Giles said, "The INTEPID-Class Strike Cruiser was designed to operate with or without escorts from the Battle Cruiser Fleet. Normally in a planetary assault operation we would have CRURON or Cruiser Squadron of INDOMITABLE-Class Battle Cruisers supporting the assault first to establish space superiority and to defend the ASSAULTRON from an extra-solar attack. The INTREPIDs can engage in ship to ship combat, but their primary mission is to provide combat support to a Marine or Army planetary assault." To punctuate that last statement the ship vibrated from the release of the primary weapon's power. In a magnification of the impact area at Fort Irwin a 640 acre area of desert turned to glass from the heat caused by the reaction of the meson particles with the silica and other matter on that piece of desert floor. The glowing white of the heat radiating from the impact of the meson beam slowly faded going from white, to blue, to yellow, to orange, to red, and finally after a few minutes the surface sand now a layer of glass was clear, but still too hot for anyone to approach it to study the after effects of the strike.

Then after zooming the imagery back out to show the orbital view the Pullers and the Fieries began their meteoric descent through the atmosphere. "Now I will put this on a spilt screen so you can see the operation from both aspects." In orbit the ships were encased in heated plasma gas jets as they broke into the Earth's atmosphere. "This plasma jetting is common in all atmospheric entries. Even the Space Shuttle and the Soyuz ships experience it on reentry," Giles said as the ships screamed through the upper atmosphere toward their targeted LZ.

Then the ground shots showed defenders from Irwin's 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment in defensive positions around a high valued target that for the purposes of this demonstration needed captured rather than destroyed. Many of the troops in desert BDUs and similarly camouflaged Kevlar Ballistic Helmets looked up toward the skies as the bangs of multiple entries finally reached them. The ships themselves looked like meteors storming through the skies toward the desert floor below from the angle of the ground troops. Then as the plasma jets cleared low level laser beams set off the kill sensors on the Abrams Tanks and Bradley Cavalry carriers that were dug in around the bunker complex. Before the ships even got close enough to land several small capsule like objects impacted into the ground surrounding the complex and dozens of Marines in some sort of hardened exoskeleton body armor began firing tranq rounds from their gauss rifles at the thoroughly shocked Cavalry Troopers of the 3/ 11th Armored Cavalry. The Trooper wore the standard issue Kevlar ballistic vests under their load bearing vests and other web gear and even these could prevent the hypersonic darts from finding some place to inject the fast acting sedative that made two thirds of their number pass out and fall in ragdoll like heaps in their defensive positions.

Despite the heavy return fire very few of the Marines' kill sensors sounded. This was because even the defensive value of their better body armor had been taken in consideration in the days prior to this dog and pony show. As it was the engagement was going in favor of the platoon of Marines who were deployed using drop capsules. These thirty or so Marines had taken the main gate, the simulated barracks and multiple strong points and now a dozen gravitic APCs, four medium grav tanks and four light grav tanks stormed the compound with one of the lights taking out the door leading into the main bunker with a bolt from its light fusion gun. Through that breach another platoon of similarly armored Marines to the one that dropped in like meteors stormed the command bunker. The other troops went about setting up a secure perimeter with the tanks and APCs providing protective overwatch. On a nearby live fire range the Pullers and Fieries simulated providing covering and supporting fires for the defensive operations. Fusion beams, lasers, and missiles tore up simulated columns of troops, tanks, and IFVs coming to take back the facility seized by the Marines.

Fifteen minutes after the first impact of the drop capsules the whole operation was over as the judges in the scoring center miles from the action had indexed the problem and scored it in favor of the Marines. The defenders didn't score badly because they deployed as per doctrine in such a scenario, but the Marines just out teched them. Maj Freilander, who was recently promoted by VADM Giles, and her Marines came in guns blazing as it were in support of Maj Finn's commandos. The commandos being the Marines dropped in the capsules proved that they could shock and awe defenders enough to get the advantage over them.

Vice Admiral Giles looked at the delegates smiling. "Now you can see with control of space an attacking force has the ultimate high ground. The devastating technologies used by this ship and her Strike Group are game changers in any international argument. That is why I will not have us used to settle scores between individual nations. The Terran Confederation Armed Forces are for the defense of Earth as a whole whether or not any given nation is a member of the Confederation. President Ryan and her Majesty Queen Elizabeth fully agree with me. You gathered here today represent the founding members of the United Nations and a few of their trusted allies. I will leave the political and diplomatic solution to creating the Terran Confederation in your hands, but before you begin your talks I want Major General George Hammond brief you on the existence of a particular piece of equipment than may have opened up a Pandora's box for Earth as a whole. General if you will brief them on the Stargate."

For the next hour Maj Gen Hammond first briefed the delegates and then fielded their questions. Finally he said, "I know most of you are shocked, but when Project Giza under my predecessor Major General West reopened the Stargate with the help of Doctor Daniel Jackson, found Abydos and its enslaved human population, liberated it from the dominion of the System Lord Ra killing him and destroying his starship they didn't have a clue as to just what happened. After I took over the caretaker command looking over the mothballed stargate and its equipment another System Lord attacked the old facility near Cheyenne Mountain and we moved the gate into its new facility below NORAD we found out just what we got ourselves into."

Hammond looked over the others in the WAR ROOM noticing their reactions. Most were somber. Some showed anger, but all nodded in understanding. He took a sip of water from an glass offered by a Senior Airman who was part of the SGC's contingent on the INTREPID. Clearing his throat he continued, "Now after we sent out Colonel O'Neill and the newly created SG-1 and SG-2 under the command then of Lieutenant Colonel Kowalski we learned just what the situation was outside of free human space. The human race lives on many worlds far beyond Earth. Beside the possible existence of the Vilani and their home planet Vland we learned from reading the data downloaded from not only the INTREPID's data base, but from the data bases of the former Imperial Fleet ships now in Earth's small fleet that there are also the Zhodani a third major human race in this region of space. The Terrans, us that is, the Zhodani, and the Vilani are the strongest of the free humans. Yet for some reason the Goa'uld who according to information learned from a fourth race of free humans the Tollan have seeded humans on many worlds outside of what the Imperials call Known Space. Our little region of this arm of the galaxy is free of Goa'uld occupation for some as yet unknown reason with the exception having been Earth about five to four thousand years ago."

At this point VADM Giles joined in saying, "At that time on Earth as you've all heard we did not begin as a paradise. Earth has faced occupation before Ra and his minions. The organization I used to be a part of is the modern form of the group that first created the warrior that aided in driving the Goa'uld and other occupiers off our planet. This warrior is called the Slayer. She and yes it is always a female, is usually a young woman between twelve and eighteen years of age when called. As you all know we face an alien and a supernatural threat to our continued freedom and existence. The Slayer was created from a young woman of one of the ancient tribes by priests and priestesses to battle humanity's supernatural enemies. Yet after the return of the Ancients and the later invasion of the Goa'uld she helped to free our ancestors. The current Slayer is Captain Elizabeth Anne "Buffy" Summers. She commands this Ship's Security Company. She also after earlier this week has fewer worries as private sources informed me that the Sunnydale Hellmouth is permanently fused shut."

Before VADM Giles could continue the French President interrupted, "With the Slayer now a member of this Terran Confederation Marine Corps; how can she protect the world from those creatures which threaten us? If she's the only one in the world would not serving in this international force preclude her from her planetary obligations?"

VADM Giles was about to answer that when a member of the British delegation stood up from the rear of their group and came to the HTDT. "Gentlemen I'm Quentin Trevor," he said introducing himself, "I represent the International Watchers' Council and am its Chairman if you will. I'm here with the British Delegation at the behest of her Majesty Elizabeth the Second. What I have to say is not to leave this room. As of this week there is another Slayer. A young woman about seventeen years of age from Jamaica named Kendra Young. She was called about six months ago. I assume her activating as the Slayer coincides with Slayer Summers' brief experience with death when fighting the vampire called The Master. We have assigned Slayer Young to handle the outbreaks of vampire and hostile demon activity on Earth and will second Slayer Summers to the TCMC. Perhaps the training she remembers from her descendent will aid her in battling those who wish us harm."

Trevor then looked directly at VADM Giles and said, "Admiral Giles I think First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jock Slater has something from the Queen for you." With that said Watcher Trevor stepped back into the shadows and the rear of the British Delegation. As he retreated ADM Sir Jock Slater came forward.

"Vice Admiral Rupert Giles by order of Her Royal Majesty Elizabeth the Second of England your reserve commission as a Commander in the Royal Naval Reserve has been activated. With this activation comes promotion to and jump in rank to Vice Admiral. Your first assignment with this promotion and elevation in rank is as Commander Her Majesty's Royal Naval Space Forces. In additions Her Majesty requests your presence at Buckingham Palace in three days. I believe she has a knighthood for you sir." Adm Sir Jock looked at Vadm Giles smiling and added, "The knighthood is in honor of your service to the Crown and the world as Slayer Summers' watcher and as after the downloaded service records state your service in this alternate future to the Homeworld." He then handed Giles the document envelope containing the official records of the promotions and the impending knighthood.

Giles took the documents and was speechless. He was tempted to as was his habit when embarrassed to take of his glasses and make at cleaning them. He nervously started to speak saying, "I don't know what to say… I'm speechless as it were." He looked back up at the Prime Minister and the First Sea Lord when he spoke.

Tony Blair looked at Vadm Giles and said, "You also should have orders in that folder seconding you to the Terran Confederation Navy as its Commander in Chief for a term of three years or until relieved." He looked Giles directly in the eyes adding, "Admiral Giles do us proud. With this serendipitous gift from whichever powers above we can't waste it. You by your actions this last week have sealed your fate as the first C-n-C of Earth's first combined space navy. They eyes of all England and the United Kingdom are on you as are those of the world, don't blow this."

After Mr. Blair finished President Ryan spoke, "I am presenting to Congress a request to make Captain Harris' commission official and Robbie can attest that a promotion to Rear Admiral Lower Half and placement as your Deputy Commander are in the works. Once the bill commissioning Captain Harris passes; there is an amendment with promoting him to RMDL and assigning him as Commander United States Navy Space Forces Command and seconding him to the Terran Confederation Navy as Deputy Commander Terran Confederation Navy." Ryan looked over at the other Heads of Government and State conspiratorially and said, "We could have replaced you and all personnel affected by the Halloween Effect, but it was decided after seeing you and your personnel work that all officers and other personnel within the reconstituted Terran Confederation Navy and Terran Confederation Marine Corps would receive if they didn't already possess them enlistments and or commissions within their native national forces at their current ranks with those in leadership positions warranting higher rank having promotions pending."

Russian President Boris Yeltsin using surprisingly good English said, "Admiral Giles we kept you and the others all in place because you're the only people on this whole planet who are skilled in interstellar warfare. We the founding members of the reconstituted Terran Confederation, which by the way Jack we need to have a meeting after this to work out the details of this Confederation's government, also what your cadre to train us the best Navy and Marine Corps you can. We have enemies out there beyond this system with terrible and horrific powers and billions upon untold billions of our fellow humans held in slavery."

That's when Major General George Hammond who was present as part of the American delegation came up to the HTDT. He then gave briefing on the Stargate Program and the low intensity war currently being waged across the Stargate network against the Goa'uld. The briefing also included details on the Goa'uld, what was known of their empire, and what information was available on known System Lords.

VILANI EXPEDITION ON KAGUK FIVE PARSECS TAILING OF EARTH AND TWO PARSECS COREWARD

Gamaagin Iiken Kakarku walked through the wooded areas still in her Monocrys armored vaccsuit still wearing her vaccsuit helmet. She had her electrothermal cartridge firing advanced combat rifle at the ready. Already she had lost two of her men to them. The Jaffa of the System Lord Apophis had established a base within Vilani Space or rather near it. Her team had been sent by the local Sharurshid administrator to investigate then eliminate the threat. The Five Hundred Years War was said to be for the unification of all of Humaniti and the liberation of the minor branches from Goa'uld Rule or at least that's what the Imperial Officials let the common citizens believe.

Like many rising members of the Bureaucracy Gamaagin knew the truth. Vland in the years before planetary unification had been visited by a minor Goa'uld and his Jaffa. It was before the Old Ones' great warbots had finally expired from depleted power plants. In the far western mountains of the main continent there is a crater like lake and evidence of an extinction level event. It was deduced that the Guardians left by the Old Ones had destroyed some threat to the world. The affirmation of that deduction took 2000 years twice as long as it took to format the deduction.

For thousands of years afterward no clue came as to what the threat was until a device had been discovered on one of the minor races' homeworld. This ring like gateway did not grant access to any walled off area. It didn't have a wall to be a portal for. During the first 500 years of the Ziru Sirka the Vilani hunted down all these devices on the worlds claimed by them and buried them. The rings were far older than the lost civilization of the Old Ones. The clue as to what the ancient threat was when a band of armored soldiers came through the first ring discovered and the battalion commander on scene engaged these intruders then on orders from the battalion's regimental commander working on orders from the regiment's divisional commander buried the ring and dismantled its control unit.

The Five Hundred Years War was fought to find the rings and bury them all. Now here on this marginally habitable world just outside the rimward frontier of the Empire her company had discovered another ring and the old enemy was here in force. They had a battalion or so of Jaffa protecting a base set up around the ring. There were columns of human slaves leaving under watchful guard the attached town each day going to work either in the nearby fields or a mine where they toiled to mine the ore bearing the mineral from which the rings were made. Other slaves worked the great smelting plant.

Granted the Ziru Sirka was not the most liberal thinking of human polities, but it was abhorrent to Gamaagin that this other race, a race of eel like creatures would enslave not only humans for their hosts, but they had genetically altered one group of humans to be their slave-soldiers and used the rest of their human chattel as forced laborers. Truly there wasn't much freedom in the Empire for innovation and original thinking, but these humans enjoyed even less freedom than those of the Ziru Sirka. The old enemy of the Vilani kept their servants in the lowest of civilized technology levels to avoid rebellion. They also banned the teaching of reading and writing to their slaves. Only the overlords were allowed to read, write and to use higher technology disguising this use as magic. The overlords forced their followers to believe they were and are gods because of this belief about their use of high tech devices.

Gamaagin had already lost the small troop ship that brought her company to explore this planet for possible colonization to these Jaffa. Her company survived because of the brave and loyal sacrifice two of its enlisted soldiers gave for their comrades to continue living. Now Gamaagin followed established protocols to keep her command viable and able to conduct combat operations against the enemy of the Ziru Sirka. These principles were as old as the Empire and perhaps older. They had saved the Vilani many times over the years and why change a good thing unless it needs to be fixed. After all it was good enough from my ancestors it's good enough for me, Gamaagin thought as she planned out according to tradition the company's next attack. Many Vilani failed to realize that the Goa'uld and their Jaffa slave soldiers weren't very good innovators perhaps even worse than the Vilani themselves. In a short time all that will change and both empires will feel the repercussions of events that have taken place and were soon to pass. For now though in blissful or perhaps not so blissful ignorance Gamaagin prepared her company for a sacrifice for the Empire so as to prevent this enemy from gaining a greater encroachment. Once their sacrifice was discovered and verified Gamaagin and her company will be seen as heroes of the Empire.

It was now time to make the enemy pay for their encroachment. "Comrades the old enemy has made a vile encroachment upon the sacred Ziru Sirka and must be shown the error of their aggression. It is time to fight them until we can't, onward follow me!" With that said she began her attack.


	5. Chapter 5

INTREPID CHP 5

AN: Recently corrected some errors found by readers who checked their facts using several of the wikis covering BtVS and did a copy and paste of the corrected copies replacing those chapters with the errors. I believe I still have to check Chapter 1 but it will be fixed soon and reposted.

Chapter Five

A LONG DEAD CALIFORNIA SIERRA NEVADA'S GHOST TOWN TEN DAYS AFTER THE STERILIZATION OF SUNNYDALE AND WEST SANTA BARBARA

The man drew a drag on the cigarette clinched between his lips. He next leaned against the support post of the old saloon's porch. The boardwalk supported the weight of his body as he looked out in to the mountain night. The town he took his lover too had a name once, but no one living and very few of his kind knew it anymore. He only remembered its location because once in the early days of this century he wondered into this burg and made a meal of its last residents and turning only the lady who ran this saloon.

Rose Adair ran a place where vampires like Spike could hide out until the Slayer lost their scent. Spike wasn't worried except that when he bugged out of Sunnydale he stumbled into a fight with a black slayer named Kendra. They fought for hours at the edge of the Hot Zone before he finally seized her and all but drained her. She went limp and he tossed her into a nearby pond. As far as he knew he got his third slayer that day.

Spike then got back into his blacked out windowed 57 Chevrolet Bellaire and drove to Rose's. Spike continued to look out into the night of the High Sierras and smoking. He remembered the run from Sunny D. It was a nightmare even for a vamp like him and he was bloody well William the Bloody who tortured some of his victims with railroad spikes. That behavior earned him the name he goes by now. The Poofter his grandsire, gave him that name around the Turn of the Century, the last one not the one coming up.

Lightly sucking in another puff he drew another drag. Spike didn't know why he took the time to fight Slayer Kendra, but he knew that she was preventing him from escaping Sunny D and the mindless horde of flesh eating zombie like shambling walkers now taking over the city. During the initial twelve hours of that night troops inside the city and the neighborhoods of western Santa Barbara had fought to save as many of his happy meals with legs as they could. They also worked feverously encircling the Hot Zone with all the barriers they could get from tall wall like Jersey Barriers to wire entanglements of razor wire coils strung across roads, ditches, creeks and through woods and across paths and trails. They placed snipers and other good marksmen on tall buildings nearby to shoot any of the walking dead who tried to escape the Hot Zone.

After being chased out of Slayer Summers' house he ran home to the warehouse he had stashed his sire and lover Drusilla in. Then the walkers invaded his sanctuary. He lost several of his minions that hour. In fact all of them perished along with the handful of humans who thought they were taking refuge in the old warehouse. It seemed that where the virus killed and reanimated humans in vampires especially those made from turning humans it killed them turning them to the ash and dust their bodies should have been long ago. Spike wasn't sure, but even with the delay caused by killing Kendra, he thought he and Drusilla were the only members of the Fang Gang to escape Sunny D before the humans incinerated the burg from orbit. He was pretty sure that his grandsire was killed by whatever weapon they used on Sunny D and nearby areas.

The radio the next day announced that an accidental release of an experimental virus being studied to see if a vaccine could be developed to prevent what occurred in Sunny D. The company developing the vaccine was different from the company, who developed the original virus the report said, but an industrial spy stole nearly all the samples and to cover his trail he took some of the vials and broke them at random locations around Sunnydale as he supposedly left. It was this purposeful release that resulted in the Zombie outbreak in Sunny D according to the radio news casts. "Like that was what it truly was, but it's a better story than what the Mayor used to give out explaining away the weirdness in good ol' Sunny D," Spike said aloud now deep within his thoughts over what happened during the last week or so since Halloween.

Spike looked out into the night and he remembered over hearing some of Slayer Summers' troops as he hid waiting for a good time to move to the gap he knew was in the cordon placed around Sunny D. "Suck it up Rodriguez, we've tried to find the Vilani responsible for the release of this weapon, but those we captured were only from the laborer cast and the Managerial cast. The Impy who released this weapon had to be from the Executive Cast and a very senior one at that. I don't think the other Lannies had the guts to pull that off without some very senior supervision. You know what I mean?" said the one soldier dressed in some sort of better designed Star Wars Storm Trooper Suit talking to another wearing the same armor.

MINUTES AFTER SPIKE'S FIGHT WITH KENDRA AND A COUPLE OF HOURS BEFORE THE STERILIZATION OF SUNNYDALE AND WESTERN SAN BERNARDIO

SSgt Napple Baenrahel and her small squad were back dirt side patrolling to find those left behind in a last ditch search for survivors before the Fighting I burn the place to a cinder. That was when they heard the scuffle near a pond on the west side of a park next to the State Wildlife area in the mountains that ran along the north edge of Sunnydale. When she and her squad got to the scene of the fight it was all over and someone was escaping into the mountains on an old truck road that somehow had not been closed off yet.

There was a dark figure in the water of the pond. So SSgt Baenrahel went over to see what it was. She found a dark skinned human female of their African ethnic group. Though, this late teenaged girl didn't look like she came from the second smallest of Earth's three eastern continents. She looked like she came from one of the island republics between the South American Federation and the North American Union. Upon further examination Napple found a very devastating wound that looked like some sort of human like creature with large cusped teeth or canines had taken a big bite out of the barely living girl's neck like it was an apple.

Her squad's unofficial medic did a great job of stopping any further bleeding and stabilized the girl for medevac to the INTREPID and Dr. Kendall's Sickbay. While Aura as the medically trained Marine Efst'ut T'puuli was called by the Terrans worked on the young rivvil Napple called in the Medevac Ship's Boat.

Aura was the English translation of Efst'ut's first name. Napple saw that her friend from back on Nec'Perya had the girl stabilized and she said to Efst'ut, "The medevac bird is on the way and we're to go back up with it. It seems the Admiral wants us to babysit a local rivvil Colonel to collect the United States President prior to burning this open burial pit." Minutes later the SB-217 piloted by Starbuck and co-piloted by Racetrack showed up.

Napple rallied her squad together and got them all aboard the Comanche for the flight back up to the INTREPID. The whole trip back Efst'ut even applied some healing magic to the woman while Napple had the others of her Squad block this from the view of Starbuck and Racetrack. Unlike the Apache, a Comanche wasn't a roll-on/ roll-off transport. The cargo bay maybe separated by a pressure bulkhead, but nothing separated the flight deck or cockpit from the passenger seating. The Comanche was built for cargo and personnel transfers whereas the Apache was designed for assaulting hostile positions. That was why its cargo/ passenger bay ran the length of the small craft and the Cockpit was located over the bay and forward on the bird. Each bird carried a single laser cannon and two rotary magazine equipped light missile racks. It was interesting to Napple what she thought about as she wasn't occupied with commanding her squad or fighting a battle. Trivia facts about the TCMC's small craft were one of those odd thoughts that came to her when she was left to herself in situations like this.

TCS INTREPID'S SICKBAY AROUND THE TIME SUNNYDALE WAS BEING STERILIZED

The Marines of SSgt Baenrahel's squad had got the young woman to the Sickbay as fast as they could. LT Kendall had them put the woman in an automedic instead of one of the examination beds. The reason was all of the examination beds were full with Marines mostly from the USMC, but a few from the KIMC and TCMC as well and soldiers from the United States Army. What few medical personnel LT Kendall had dragooned from the refugees already aboard the Fighting I were beginning to be taxed by the pressure this crisis was putting on them. There were ER doctors and nurses along with others from different specialties working the Sickbay.

Napple seeing this made sure the rivvil her and the squad recovered was placed in the automedic properly. The TCMC Marine Basic Course taught you combat environment first aid including the correct way to put a patient into the portable automedics used by the TCN field hospitals. These machines weren't that much different than the ones in the ships' sickbays.

Harmony saw that they had the patient in the automedic and shoed them out of her Sickbay. Then she went to monitoring the young woman Napple and her Drow Marines brought in. As badly injured as the woman was she was fighting with every ounce of her being to remain alive. Harm didn't think it was going to be a winning battle for the younger woman, but she could help but know somehow she must stay and see this woman's emergency treatment through. "Doctor Balt, take over the rest of the Sickbay while I monitor this automedic," Harm yelled out to the best of the volunteer physicians helping her. Gaius just nodded and started directing the mad house of the Sickbay's receiving area.

Not knowing that the pilots had all gone to fill up on coffee and food before going back into the rotation Harmony jumped into full emergency room mode when the automedic detected that her patient had flat lined. Harmony began the automedic's resuscitation procedures. For five minutes she worked with the machine, but finally revived the young woman in the chamber. According to the medical sensors built into the machine her patient had lost a major and dangerous amount of her blood. The medical nanites had by the time of the patient's collapse sealed the nasty bite wound at her neck. The diagnostic sensors also showed that the virus had not infected her. She would not have to be air locked to save the rest of those aboard.

What no one knew besides Faith and those with her in the Mess Hall and Kendra knew was that because of her brief death history had been repeated. That is no one except a mature man in a darkened room in a massive Victorian Neo-Classical building in the center of London. Quinten Trevor knew that now there were three Slayers. Slayer Kendra died, but was like Slayer Summers resurrected and saved from a permanent death. At the time though the tweed suited man who was head of the International Watchers' Council elected to keep this secret to himself. Trevor looked up from the scrying device and smiled like a satisfied lion after a meal of wildebeest.

Back in the INTREPID's Sickbay LT Harmony Kendall D.O. had Kendra Young moved to a treatment bed while the automedic cleaned itself in preparation for the next patient. LT Kendall had the unconscious Kendra placed on full units of O – whole blood until her natural volume was restored. She had the young woman placed in a medical coma so that she would heal. The 24th Century's method of this put the patient under letting his or her natural healing to take over. As the patient was kept artificially unconscious and monitored for changes in life signs what nutrients needed and medications prescribed were fed via the treatment bed's built in IV system.

Unknown to Harmony and the rest of her ad hoc medical staff who were getting a crash course in 24th Century medical technology with each and every patient, Slayer Kendra's mystical healing had already begun and as her body used up the nutrients being fed her it would repair the damages caused in the fight with Spike. What saved her in the field was when Efst'ut had cast the spells stabilize and cure light and cure moderate wounds on her. Napple had informed LT Kendall of the use of medical magic by her Assistant Squad Leader. Though LT Kendall frowned on the use of the medium she didn't turn down its help when it came to saving lives. With Efst'ut being a healing priestess of her deity she didn't object to the TCMC Sergeant's use of divine healing which in the case of the Drow woman actually worked. The goddess of the Nec'Peryan Drow actually aided her petitioners unlike the gods and goddesses of Terra or rather Earth. Harmony wasn't totally an agnostic or even an atheist. Yet the continued ignoring of the plight of their mortal followers led Harmony to believe the gods and goddesses of Terran humans had turned their backs on their charges. Of course she was clueless as to the usurpation of their identities by a race of sentient and sapient parasitic eels from a distant world and how this over time led to a great disbelief in them and the Creator by a large portion of the population of both her native Earth and this one. Still it helps to keep an open mind and from her association with the Drow of Staff Sergeant Baenrahel's squad LT Kendall was sure there were divine beings out there and some of them actually cared about the mortals.

PROMETHEUS, NEW SUNNYDALE COLONY D-CLASS DOWN PORT TWO WEEKS AFTER ESCAPING SUNNYDALE

Capt. Warren Mears looked around the exterior of the MV LEONIDAS. He was doing a visual inspection of the little starship. The LEO was only sixty feet long by 55.5 feet wide by thirty feet tall without the landing struts deployed. The Hero-Class Private Merchant was the Caravel of the New Age of Discovery for Terra. They were only a little bit smaller than the old sailing ships like the Nina, the Mayflower, and nameless others which were the mainstay of the early colonization of the Americas. Though for his part Warren felt less like old Mister Columbus and more like Leif Erikson.

Warren came to Prometheus with knowledge he already possessed, thanks to his becoming his future descendent for a night. Now all he had to do was return to Earth see how things went back there, register his colony, register the trading company he and his father along with Tucker's and Jonno's fathers drafted the charter for. Of the two the registration of the Colony of New Sunnydale was the most important. The Mearses, Wellses, and Levinsons had claimed this part of Prometheus for the United States of America and the planet itself for Earth. Here at the mouth of Sparta Bay they built their colony naming it in honor of the small California city that before Halloween had been their home.

Within the week they had been here after the week in transit between Earth and Prometheus the accidental colonists had erected the beginnings of the town of New Sunnydale. Gardens had been plotted and planted near each family's residences. The Civic Building was erected in the center of the small town in a square plotted out to be a market and social area. Fields were plotted outside the edge of town for planting of crops. Due to the immediate need most of these crops were already slated for use by the colonists. The agricultural land was plotted along the flood plain of the river they had named Sparta River in honor of the ancient Greeks who first inspired the Crew of the LEONIDAS to set down at this location. They and the adults of the Colony plotted the town site on the small plateau like ledge overlooking the bay and the mouth of the river. Up here there was land for starport and for expansion of the town.

It was also about five to six days since Lieutenant Commander Laura Blaisdell and her small crew returned Terry to them and made the investigation as to what they were doing out here. The Navy EXCOMCOM interviewed everyone who had escaped Sunny D on the LEONIDAS and drafted her report. Before leaving two days later LCDR Blaisdell said, "Don't worry, I'm sure Admiral Giles will be happy you're all safe and far away from the building disaster created by the Vilani attack on our home that affected both timelines. Hopefully by the time I get this report back to him the situation is resolved and whatever reconstruction needed will have begun. You have a good idea starting a colony here. Perhaps with time it can expand with immigrants from home to build this town up and spread out to build farms and other towns. This region has plenty of mineral resources and others so it should have a good economic base to work with. I've included that in my report as well. With the Halloween Effect from what Lursa, my First Officer told me I think we have fellow Terrans who are of alien descent who will also be glad to have some place to settle if the natives back home get hostile towards them. We'll find out when we get back."

That was two days ago after the cursory investigation LCDR Blaisdell performed. Then she left a day ago after a quick maintenance check and frontier refueling from the lake five miles upriver. Warren watched as the small arrowhead shaped ship about the same length and width of the LEONIDAS, but two thirds the LEO's height leave. The crew of the 100 dton FREMONT-Class Explorer named AMELIA EARHART after about three and a half hours called back saying they were jumping to Earth.

Warren knew there were some things to be done still before the LEO made the same journey. These included taking some samples back that Mister Charles one of the Geology Teachers at Sunnydale East High School the other of the two public high schools had found. There were samples of an unknown mineral, plus several rock samples of know industrial ores and even some precious metals. Though now even those metals had a higher need in industry than as the basis for currency and exchange. Gold, platinum, and silver were good electrical conductors, even better than copper. These were used by the computer industry in the manufacturing of all sorts of circuit boards besides silica. The samples gathered also consisted of native flora and fauna to Prometheus which surprisingly enough were local variations on species found back on Earth.

Besides the physical samples Warren had data files from their mapping missions over Prometheus. From the orbital photographs and digital video footage he and Mister Jones who worked for a subcontractor to NASA located in Sunny D looked over they found evidence that Prometheus once had a civilization on it. There were ruined cities all over the place. The largest was just 120 miles north-northeast of New Sunnydale at a curve in the shore line. This was where their peninsula met up with the main continent. These orbital surveys would be of as much value as the other samples he would bring back with him.

So the Colonists could get the planting done he left the Air/ Raft behind after teaching several of the adults how to use it. The Air/ Raft could be used to tow the gravitic plow that was included in the supplies for that future Kibbutz on Calgary. Warren had thought about replacing the Air/ Raft with a currently produced all-terrain vehicle, but it would have to be electric or gas-electric because there wasn't an existing petro-chemical industry here on Prometheus. That was the main drawback to currently produced vehicles. One plane was to purchase draft horses and horse drawn plows and wagons. He learned fast that even modern machinery required an industrial base to maintain and livestock didn't. So enough heads of horses to begin breeding their own would be purchased. It was decided to use Morgans, an American breed because they could be used both as draft horses and for riding. It was also decided that for larger food livestock that Holsteins for dairy and Angus for beef would be best for the terrain of the valley. The far side of the river's flood plain was designated as the pasture land.

The Colony's elders including him decided that a system similar to the old English manorial system would be used for current land use. The fields were laid out in three strips one for planting grains, one for planting a vegetable or other food plant known for replenishing the soil of its nutrients, and one to lay fallow. Each family had a field plot laid out this way. The goats and sheep were kept in a converted cargo container each for shelter and pastured on land behind the colony between it and the ridge of the nearest mountain. The rabbits and chickens were kept each in their own pens with hutches or coops made again from empty cargo containers.

By a week after landing Warren was ready to make the journey back to Earth. He would make the jump, spending that week in transit then spend another week or two gathering the list of supplies the colonists had asked for including the cattle and horses. After that it would be another week in transit back to Prometheus. The whole round trip should take about three weeks to a month. He needed to recruit a ground crew with at least experience working with cargo transports too. That was another reason for two weeks being scheduled on Earth.

After the preflight checks were finished he had the crew man their stations with Terry Wells helping Jonno in Engineering. The other children miraculously had been reunited with their parents too. Even the lopped eared Elven girl found her family here amongst the New Sunnydalers. Warren stepped up on the cargo ramp and walked into the lower bay and signaled for Terry to close the ramp. With that done he used is wristcomp to access LEO's ship's intercom and said, "Make ready for space flight secure all external hatches and air locks. Jonno warm up the maneuver drives and CG Lifters. Tuck once the lifters are engaged retract the landing gear. I'll be up to the Bridge shortly."

A few minutes later the people of New Sunnydale looked up toward their small starport a mile from the main village to see the LEO make for orbit and beyond. The sped to the upper atmosphere and was lost from sight. After that limited amount of excitement the people of the village of New Sunnydale went back to building their new lives. Warren Senior sent out a scouting party to look over the nearest ruins, a small town to the north and west by where one of the tributaries of the Sparta emptied in to Lake Wilkins. They had named the lake for the Mayor of Sunnydale. It seemed that now that they were free of the Sunnydale Effect they remembered all that they had cataloged away about their former home's unique and dangerous night life. It was decided that here they would be more aware of the dangers lurking in the darkness. All adults were enlisted into the Rangers or New Sunnydale's Colonial Militia. The scouting party was a five person fire team drawn from the Rangers. The father of the elven family was elected to be the commander of the Rangers. The Rangers were divided into three platoons of three ten man squads since it was company sized. The rest of the adults went about their chores and jobs of making the colony viable. Each going armed to the fields and other work areas. No one knew just what dangers laid beyond the boundaries of their colony, but no one willingly took any chances either.

As for Warren and the Crew of the LEONIDAS they made the 100 planetary diameter perimeter in about three and half hours where Warren ordered the jump to Earth.

SICKBAY ONE WEEK AND ONE HALF SINCE STERILIZATION AND A WEEK AFTER LCDR BLAISDELL LEFT PROMETHEUS.

Kendra Young awoke with a start. She was in the patient care ward still being monitored. She looked around to see what made her awaken. She saw nothing at the moment but eventually she focused on the TCN Lieutenant Junior Grade watching her. It was the new Slayer, Faith Lehane. She walked or rather sauntered up to her bedside.

Faith when she reached the bedside of the Second Chosen said, "How're you doin'," in the South Boston accent she nearly forgot in all that was happening over the last week or so.

Kendra looked at her sister Slayer and said, "I'm much better, but I want out of dis bed and back to hunting de vampires. My watcher must be concerned about me too." Her Jamaican accent broke through while she spoke as hard as Faith's Southie Accent.

"Don't worry Buffy's and my watchers have contacted Mister Zabuto and he knows of what happened to you. It seems you dying briefly in this Sickbay your first day up here activated me the next nearest Slayer. History repeated itself to the bad of the Vamps. As it is you're to rest and recover while training with me up here. Meantime Buffy is dealing with a nest found in Seattle. She and her Ship's Security Marines are dealing with that trouble spot. I am making daily flights down to Edwards and oh I found and slew a Vamp that managed to make his way up here with the refugees we're housing now until places could be found for them. The Santa Barbara and Barstow evac centers need patrolling so I've been authorized as soon as you're released to take you with me to do the mission. Where do you want to start?" Faith's old Caprican Accent now showed itself as she talked less friendly and more businesslike. Though Kendra understood Faith's English either way the switch in accents made her look at the new Slayer quizzically.

Faith saw Kendra's confused and questioning look and said, "Oh you're wondering why the changes in accents. I'm originally from South Boston, but a few years from now I'll be reborn some thousands of years in the past on the planet Caprica. When I'm being friendly and all I revert to my native accent from Earth and when I get more businesslike it's the Caprican accent that comes out. Hell I even forget sometimes now and speak solely in Caprican which Alice the INTREPID's AI has to translate for everyone around me, but Starbuck, Racetrack, and Red, that's Lieutenant Kara Thrace and Lieutenants Junior Grade Margaret Edmondson and Jean Barolay my flight mates."

Kendra nodded as the young woman next to her kept talking going on about what happed of late. Kendra had been in and out of consciousness since she woke up a few days ago, but mostly it was actual sleep, not a medical coma. Her body had healed itself due to Slayer healing and now she was going insane with nothing to do all because the TCN Doctor didn't what to release her just yet.

FLAG OFFICER'S STATEROOM TCS INTREPID ABOUT THE SAME TIME

VADM Giles sat at the desk in the corner of the large stateroom set aside for the for the Commander Strike Group when with aboard ship. There was a single double bed, a fresher, a lounge area, a dressing area near the fresher, a dining area, and an office area. The room was double the size of an ordinary single occupancy stateroom. At the moment on the large wide screen monitor by the lounge area he had a video of a fireplace going.

VADM Giles sat at his office chair listening to LT Kendall's report on the patient Kendra Young. "It's amazing the young woman's healing powers. They're almost as rapid as Captain Summers'. I suspect that whoever it was who tampered with Captain Summers' DNA did the same with Kendra Young. Yesterday I took her down to the gym and she can lift as much weight as the Captain and has as much stamina. It may behoove us to have an interview with the Captain and Ms. Young in the conference room sir," said LT. Kendall when closing her report to VADM Giles.

Giles took off his glasses, wiped them clean, cleared his throat and spoke in a very official and studious voice, "Lieutenant the world is older than you know…" He went on to tell her about the overthrow of the demons and the following overthrow of the Goa'uld Ra. He finished his part of the real ancient history of the Earth and said, "Lieutenant for the rest you will have to sign some United States Air Force non-disclosure agreements and listen to a similar lecture by Doctor Daniel Jackson a former colleague of mine."

LT Kendall looked dumbfounded for a moment then she lit up like a spotlight when the information finally clicked within her brain. It wasn't that Harmony was stupid or even dumb, no; just sometimes slow to get what was being told to her. Her alter ego whose memories were copied over into her head was quicker to respond to new information beyond that needed for her career field. As her eyes lit up with realization Giles smiled. "You mean that Captain Summers and Ms. Young are two of these Slayers you were just talking about?" she said then immediately asked, "How come there are two of them when you said it was one girl in all the world?"

Giles looked at his Strike Group's CMO and said, "Lieutenant that's normally quite true, but last spring Slayer Summers was killed momentarily by the vampire called The Master. Fortunately for her Xander or as we know him today Captain Harris followed her with the help of the ensouled Vampire Angel. They found Buffy lying in face down in a pool of water. The Master had all but drained her and left her for dead. The fact was she did die there in that pool of water, drowning as she was too weak to save herself. Xander knows CPR from a Red Cross First Aid Course he took and he saved her life."

Kendall saw the connection and said, "So Buffy died then Xander brought her back to life. Yet Kendra was made a slayer anyways because of the cosmic selection process. I wonder who got selected when Kendra died in the automedic the other day. I saved her and was able to resuscitate her. She did heal remarkably well afterwards."

Giles nodded saying, "Yes Slayers heal at two to three times the normal rate for humans. From your report her injuries would have normally healed in about six weeks, but some are already healed both to their being not too severe and the intervention of Sergeant T'puuli from Staff Sergeant Baenrahel's squad.

SPACE 100 EARTH DIAMETERS OUT

A bright blue like flashed as the TCS AMELIA EARHART broke through from Jump Space. In the cockpit or bridge of the small starship LCDR Blaisdell began her post jump checks before maneuvering toward Earth. As she and LT Qua'lon were running through the Bridge post jump procedures the radio crackled and a man's voice with a thick Russian accent came over. "Unidentified starship this is the Russian Space Authority's Station MIR please identify yourself and state your business in Earth Space?"

LCDR Blaisdell finished her checks at that time and switched her commlink to the frequency of used by MIR. She replied, "Russian Space Authority Station MIR this is the Terran Confederation Fremont-Class Explorer Amelia Earhart. We are returning from investigating what happened to the Merchant Vessel Leonidas. I am to rendezvous with the Terran Confederation Strike Cruiser Intrepid and give my report to Vice Admiral Giles."

Lursa and Divok were both listening in on the open channel, but commented on a closed channel. Lursa said something about the man being a moron and Divok agreed. After all it didn't take a rocket scientist to know things in space had changed since the Halloween Event. The Rayne Effect took care of that. MIR had been obsolete essentially overnight. Laura pretended not to hear the by play between the Qua'lon siblings. Let the Russian's think that they are the major player in Space. Even NASA had to know by now that the old Space Race was at an end. Once the technologies of the new starships were reverse engineered more scout ships and even Private Merchants were going to be going out and scouting nearby stars. A new Space Race was about to begin and with it a new Age of Discovery.

"MIR this is AMELIA EARHART we are on a trajectory to take us to the TCS INTREPID. We will contact you later," LT Qua'lon said after LCDR Blaisdell had transferred control of the conversation to her. She spoke to the Russian Cosmonaut in Klingon accented Russian. "Well that was handled pretty well," she said to Laura, "I wonder when they started using MIR as a space traffic control station?" She didn't want to say that her history lessons said that the Russians after abandoning MIR for the ISS or International Space Station soon to be built would let it fall back into the atmosphere to burn up on reentry.

Laura looked over at Lursa and said, "I don't know, but it probably happened while we were in the Prometheus System. My guess is that the Admiral's been busy working some sort of deal to retain the Terran Confederation Navy and Terran Confederation Marine Corps independent of the national armed forces." She saw that Lursa nodded her head in agreement and returned to piloting AMELIA toward the orbit of INTREPID.

EARTH STARGATE COMMAND THAT SAME WEEK

Captain Elizabeth Summers, Sergeant First Class Dawn Summers, Staff Sergeant Napple Baenrahel, Sergeant Efst'ut T'puuli, Corporal Tpuuliorthae Rahn, Corporal Ssinssrine'che S'gosxukuth, Lance Corporal Suliss'ithasenger Istosuru, and Private First Class Xiar Yah'sdalhar sat around a oaken conference table within one of the most secure and secret facilities of this time on Earth. They were twenty seven floors beneath another major military facility nestled within the protect rock of one of Earth's mountains. It was a facility well known to Captain Summers from her memories of the Ninth Interstellar War. Before she and the 234th were stationed on the INTREPID they pulled a tour of security at this very same facility in the Twenty Fourth Century.

The blast shield protecting the observation window was lowered because everyone left of the 234th SSC (Ship's Security Company) had already been here in another time. They already were in the know of just what the SGC stood for. It existed even in their alternate future. That universe like this one didn't have a better FTL system than the infamous jump drive, but Earth had found one of the Ancient's buried gifts and used it to colonize worlds beyond the Ziru Sirka. They had not found the presence in that universe of the Goa'uld, but the Ancients had been millions of places and seeded humanity just about everywhere there was a habitable world for humans. The main reason behind the Ninth Interstellar War was that some hotheads within the Ziru Sirka didn't want to believe that the Ancients had taken their ancestors from Earth. This would mean that Vilani were shedding the blood of their cousins and that Humanity didn't start out on Vland or any of the other worlds where humans were found. These hotheads wanted to purge the universe of the Terrans and their homeworld. So they broke the armistice that ended the Eighth Interstellar War and fought for eight long bloody years driving deep into Terran Space and only a commando raid managed to reach Earth itself.

It was that raid Buffy and the others had been stopping when the Halloween Effect copied their personas upon their alternate selves in this universe. The end result was that Buffy, Dawn and the rest were aged to their current physical ages and six of them were changed into another race entirely. Napple once Katherine Wexford, Efst'ut once Aura, Tpuuliorthae once Gwen Ditchik, Ssinssrine'che once Aphrodesia, Suliss'ithasenger once Shanice, and Xiar once Anya not only were advanced to an appropriate age for their rank, but they were all permanently turned into Drow from a world called Nec'Perya or Sanctuary.

General Hammond, the Summers' girls' maternal Uncle looked on shaking his head. Her were his nieces and six classmates altered by a prank played out by a now presumed dead chaos mage and priest of the Roman God Janus named Ethan Rayne. What they were now calling the Rayne Effect had altered thousands of the fifty thousand former inhabitants of the now destroyed city of Sunnydale and these were just the survivors. Thousands more died because of the mystical and perhaps even unrestrained scientific creation of a virus that kills or seems to kill its victims and mutates them into carnivorous monsters seeking only to kill and feed upon their former neighbors, friends, and families. Of those thousands transformed by the Rayne Effect many became a member of one race or another from the most recent Star Trek based television series, about 2000 became Halflings or Hin as they were calling themselves. There were also 1200 Drow besides the six across the table from him. Of the Trek races there were 1600 Klingons, 600 Vulcans, a like number of Romulans, 800 Bajorans, 700 Andorians, and 300 Tellerites not to mention 100 Borg who were isolated in a secure facility without outside human contact. The other Trek races especially the Klingons had many volunteers for the newly reconstituted Terran Confederation Navy and Terran Confederation Marine Corps.

The Five Permanent Members of the Security Council, the GATT nations, and the NATO Nations were working on the forming of the Terran Confederation. After the briefing this week aboard the INTREPID it was decided that the SGC become an international command within the structure of the TCN and TCMC. The SGC would become a join service command and at the moment it was the largest command of the fledgling Terran Confederation Armed Forces and the only one where members of the soon to be member states armed forces could serve without becoming members of the TCAF.

Now as to the reason Capt Summers, 1st Sgt Summers, and SSgt Baenrahel's squad was here it was to form up a new SG Team. The 234th Ship's Security Company was currently listed as combat ineffective at its present strength. VADM Giles thusly seconded the remaining members to the SGC. The next week would see the newly formed SG team go through training and evaluation to see if they were fit and ready to deploy through the gate. What the TCAF gained from this was a team who could tell if a gate found on a planet by one of the ships being sent out to explore those worlds listed as being part of the Terran Confederation rimward of Earth was useable. If the gate was then its address would be encoded into the dialing program.

Unlike the original TC the RTC was going to only colonize those worlds with habitable conditions. Mainly those would be worlds with atmospheric codes ranging from Thin-Tainted to Dense-Tainted and hydrographic codes ranging from thirty percent to ninety percent of their surfaces covered with water. The reasons for this were varied, but the main one was that it was decided at the INTREPID Conference that only those worlds where no technologies not already possessed by Earth would be needed for colonization. Captain Summers' team was to go to Prometheus on the return trip of Lieutenant Commander Blaisdell's AMELIA EARHART and scout the planet for a stargate. They were to find its gate address and the one for reaching Earth from Prometheus. It was hoped that each of the worlds with working stargates and no Goa'uld presence could be colonized from Earth alone via the gates. Summers' Team was going to be one of the primary scout teams for this mission and the flagship team for it.

As Maj Gen Hammond begins the briefing is lets everyone present know that they are in for a long training period and says, "Stargate Command training ensures you have the skills needed to survive out there along the Stargate Network. It will last at the moment for the next two weeks. Future classes may be longer, but for now as we have it established the course lasts for two weeks. After you've passed the course your team will be put into the rotation and sent off world on actual missions. That's not to say you won't being going off world as part of your training, but those gate jumps will be to a world we already have cleared and have built a base on.

He looks over those in the briefing room with him and sees that Captain Summers and her team are soaking in just what he said and then he continues with his briefing. He explains the discovery of the Stargate and its current history to them then adds, "Ok your training starts next Monday and ends two Mondays from then. I wish you all good luck and hope to see you at your graduation."

SECRET STARGATE COMMAND TRAINING FACILITY UNDISCLOSED LOCATION IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES ONE HALF WEEK LATER

Capt Summers, 1st Sgt Summers, SSgt Baenrahel and the rest of their team had just managed to reach the DHD after defeating one of the OpFor teams. They secured the area and Sgt T'puuli was dialing out. The half of the week was spent learning and qualifying on the Zat'nik'Tal and going over gate dialing and security procedures. The Thursday was the first day of this forty eight hour field exercise. The first day the team practiced guarding the Gate Room from an attack by Jaffa and today it was recovering an Ancient artifact and getting it back to the SGC. This was just the first of two such exercises. This weekend was the Thirty Six Hour mission and the second Forty Eight Hour one. The final exercise was a seventy two hour operation and then graduation.

Sgt. T'puuli successfully dialed the mock SGC thus ending the exercise. The evaluators came out and critiqued both Captain Summers' team and the team of Senior Air Force Academy Cadets. The Cadets were the defenders this time. Tomorrow Team Summers would be the aggressor unit attacking a Jaffa facility and recovering a captured SG Team. Team Cadet and Team Summers would each run through that scenario in support of the other. Rumor was that the OpFor this time were going to be other SG Teams masquerading as Jaffa with training Staff Weapons. Team Summers would run through the exercise with their TCMC issue weapons and armor instead of intars and SGC issue uniforms and armor. Colonel O'Neill said it this way to Team Cadet when they complained, "One you Cadets don't have training yet in the TCMC equipment, but if some of you pass this and other tests in the future may find yourselves serving in either the Terran Confederation Marine Corps or the Terran Confederation Navy. The TC won't have an Air Force as such just the TCMC Close Orbit and Aerospace Command or COAC. Those wanting to be fighter pilots will have the option of taking their commissions in the United States Air Force or in the TCN Aviation or TCMC-COAC. The same goes for those wanting to be transport pilots. COAC doesn't have bomber pilots, but they do have plans for building Systems Defense Boats that can be used as orbital fire support for ground operations. Now some of you may even make it into Stargate Command and find yourselves out on a Goa'uld infested world needing help. Well since the SGC will be coming under the structure of the Terran Confederation Armed Forces you may want the teams coming in to save your asses to be the best trained and equipped around. Tomorrow when we begin the thirty six hour operation Captain Summers and her team will be in full TCMC Combat Armor and you will see how it holds up to Matok training staves. These staff weapons are stun only devices, but take it from me it's worse that being tazed. Now see to your equipment, armor and weapons then get all the rest you can, tomorrow we begin a day and a half of hell."

GRADUATION DAY TWO WEEKS AFTER TRAINING BEGAN

Captain Elizabeth Summers and her team stood there in line on the stage at the Air Force Academy as Major General Hammond, Vice Admiral Giles and President Ryan passed out the diplomas and the TCMC Gate Operations Badge. This was the Zodiac symbol for Earth with a stylized Stargate superimposed over it. The Enlisted and Officers alike got the same silver badge. This was the only indication upon their uniforms as to their membership now as a unit of Stargate Command.

After they received their diplomas and badges VADM Giles said very officially, "Captain Elizabeth Anne Summers front and center!" Buffy came to attention and then took one step back, did a right face, marched out of the file made by her team and then marched in perfect military precision to the center of the stage.

Since the TCN currently lacked an NCO Corps and the TCMC didn't have a Senior NCO higher in rank and grad than Dawn Summers the Command Chief Master Sergeant of the SGC stood in and read of the orders beginning with one granting her a Terran Confederation Naval Cross, "Attention to orders…" The CCM read off the citation which included recognition of her actions once coming to this dimension and her involvement in the Battle of Sunnydale including her valor in risking her life to save several hundred civilians including children by holding a stairway leading up to the roof of Sunnydale High School West and for additional actions witnessed by members of her company and by members of the Ship's Company of the TCS INTREPID during their battle with Vilani commandos in the city of Sunnydale in their parent timeline before the Halloween Event. The CCM ended the first order saying, "Signed this day 1 December 1997 by my hand Rupert Giles, Vice Admiral Terran Confederation Navy commanding."

VADM Giles then pinned the medal with its ribbon to her left chest above all her other awards and decorations. As he did this and asked jokingly how she loved the attention she was getting this day he also said, "Don't go back I have another surprise for you." He then nodded to the USAF CCM who opened the second folder.

The CCM cleared his throat and began reading aloud, "Attention to Orders…" Then he read out that Captain Elizabeth Anne Summers was promoted to the rank and grade indicated within, Major Terran Confederation Marine Corps and further Brevetted to the rank and grade indicated, Lieutenant Colonel Terran Confederation Marine Corps and further assigned to the command Stargate Team Twelve. "Signed this day by my hand Rupert Giles, Vice Admiral, Terran Confederation Navy commanding." Then VADM Giles and Maj Gen Hammond took off her Captains bars and pinned on the gold oak leaves of a Major.

LATER THAT WEEK KAGUK STARGATE

Capt Summers looked around at the ruined city. Of the structures in the once thriving Goa'uld city only the Stargate still stood. The rest of the area looked like Hiroshima after Little Boy exploded with 12.5 kilotons of destructive force. There were shadowy images burned into the few standing walls that were all that remained of some human slave, Jaffa slave-soldier or even the hapless host of a Goa'uld. The team was in full TCMC Marine Combat Armor and protected against vacuum, radiation, chemical, and biological exposure. She had the team in a tactical column not wanting to spread them out too thin to cover this area.

To recon beyond their position they deployed TCMC Combat Robots. These humanoid form machines were called Toasters by LT Thrace and her flight of F/A 40 pilots. Like the basic human form they had two arms, two legs, and a head containing their CPU and sensor packages. Their torsos contained their fusion power plants and their digital memory cores. She had deployed two teams of three of the TCMC CBTROBs. So far from the sensor uploads she was getting on her wristcomp it had been a month or more since the nuclear explosion that wiped out this small city. The isotope traces indicated that the device was a Vilani nuclear fusion demolition charge.

Seeing that information coming across the heads up screen of Buffy's helmet's visor she said over the team's commlink, "Heads up this was an Impy attack. We've got or had Lannies in the area." She saw green indicator lights flicker for each team member indicating the message was received. Buffy hand signaled for them to follow her beyond the limits of ground zero as the second team of CBTROBs had found a signal from a Lannie emergency beacon.

Two hours after arriving on planet SG-12 and their robotic support element came across an encampment of Vilani troops. These troops weren't from the same Ziru Sirka that the Terran Confederation was fighting in the other timeline. These were native to this universe and timeline. Waiting in a concealed position Buffy had everyone wait until they'd listened in on enough conversation to know just what dialect these Lannies were speaking. Nice thing about the Impies were they were slow to change on many aspects of their society and language proved to be just and rigid as the rest of their culture.

It seemed that most of the personnel were speaking Low Vilani to themselves and were actually complaining about Sharurshid had yet to send in a rescue ship. Buffy smiled to herself after a while. The conversation the Lannies were having told her much of what had happened. A passing Lannie destroyer had detected unusual energy readings on this world outside the Ziru Sirka and reported it back to the appropriate authorities over a decade ago. Then a month ago a company sized team of Impy troops were landed to recon the place to find the source of the energy readings.

It was these soldiers Buffy and her team were listening in on. One Impy said to another, "The Company Leader sacrificed herself and much of the company for the Empire and yet we don't have a rescue ship. We destroyed a base of the Ancient Enemy and still no one has come to take us off this rock."

The other Lannie said to the first, "Brother, don't worry the Bureaucrats will send someone after they've decided that it's been long enough. They will take the time to weigh in all the options and ramifications there of before they give the order that must be given. We did our duty and only a handful of us survived. Be proud we stopped an encroachment of our old enemy and we may have saved the Empire in the process."

Buffy gave the signal for everyone to come out and in Low Vilani she said as she strode into the Lannie camp, "We may not be Sharurshid or any other Bureaucracy of the Ziru Sirka, but we also fight the Goa'uld. I'm Major Elizabeth Summers of the Terran Confederation Stargate Command."

The couple of squads left over after the Lannie attack on the Goa'uld base all stood up their weapons pointing outward covering the incoming troops in similarly advanced combat armor accompanied by an equal number of robotic troops. The woman in command only lifted the gold reflective faceplate of her helmet. The Vilani soldiers understood her reasoning for not fully taking off her helmet. Kaguk had a tainted thin atmosphere and what tainted the air was a spore that was released every six months by a local fungus. The spore wasn't deadly, but the hallucinogenic trips were a bugger if you wanted anyone to do anything here workwise. You kept your armor's helmet on or wore a filtering respirator.

Squad Leader Adkhar Laragii came forward as the highest ranking member of the Army of the Ziru Sirka still alive on this rock and said, "Welcome stranger, from what world do you come from? I may be the son of a lowly working cast house, but I know there are other worlds of humans not enslaved by the serpents. Where the Sharurshid have kept a few of the Gates of the Old Ones open and heavily guarded I've escorted many merchant expeditions especially to the planet Langara."

Adkhar could see the woman's smile in her eyes even if he couldn't see it on her lips. Then Buffy said, "We come from Earth and we've only just returned to the stars via a similar gate we've unburied. We also fight the Snakes who enslave humans." She didn't want to let them know yet that Earth also has just recently returned to the stars with a small fleet of starships. From her conversations over the last week with Starbuck and Nightshade back on the INTREPID her people are descendants of an earlier star faring race of humans, the synthetic human form of a race of sentient robots the Colonials created, and ancient early Earth humans. So in essence what she just told the Lannie leader was true. The people of the Twelve Worlds are back. "I'm sorry but I gave you my name and yet I don't know what to call you," she said back to Adkhar.

"My many thousand apologies mistress, I am Adkhar of the Worker Cast House of Laragii from the Ziru Sirka colony of Lagash," Adkhar said then bowing before the woman who was obviously from the Managerial Cast of her people.

Damn the Lannies are as divided by casts as the Snakes, Buffy thought as she said, "Rise Adkhar, there is no need to bow to me when a simple salute will do. Besides I'm not even in your military." She wasn't oblivious to the looks that had to be on the faces of Adkhar and his fellow Impy soldiers, but their helmet face plates and facemasks covered their faces well enough to conceal their expressions. "Well I guess you want to know how I know Low Vilani. It's like this we had a visit from people who speak it and several of our people were chosen to learn it so that when we made contact we could speak with your people. Some of us also learned High Vilani to talk with your officials."

Buffy before the Halloween Event wasn't that good at twisting the truth or fabricating stories to cover the real truth, but since she became host to her several times great granddaughter she learned and retained that skill. The way she told Adkhar about how they returned to the stars was relatively truthful as was the cover for how she knew the dialects of the Vilani language.

Now Buffy was also thinking on her feet on how to find a solution to the Impy problem she now had. On one had she could leave them here where it was obvious that Sharurshid had left them. On the other she could take them back with her to the SGC and debrief them. Being that those who were left were all Non-Coms and other Enlisted it was unlikely that they would have much in the way of information about their whole mission, just the part that they themselves were privy to. After integrating Adkhar for a while in their camp Buffy learned that the reason Adkhar's troops survived the suicide attack was that they were assigned to guard the Lannie LZ for their pickup ship.

Buffy listened to Adkhar for an hour. She learned that Adkhar was part of a special reconnaissance company sent out to confirm the presence of an active stargate and to see if the Goa'uld had a base near the gate. Usually these missions resulted in their ship targeting the base and destroying it with a nuke. This mission went badly when the Goa'uld in question the son of Apophis, Klorel left a Ha'Tak mother ship in orbit protecting his base here. The mother ship destroyed their smaller ship stranding them here. Klorel's Jaffa then began hunting down Adkhar's company and the Company Commander decided to carry out the mission by leading a suicide attack to place their only backpack nuclear demolitions charge where it would do the most damage to the Goa'uld base.

This story pretty much confirmed what Buffy and her team discovered after exiting the gate by the location of the former Goa'uld base. The small city had been destroyed killing all the Jaffa and human slaves. Yet Buffy had a feeling the Goa'uld overseers weren't around when the nuke went off. From what she'd learned over the last month was that the Goa'uld have a habit of not being around when shit hits the fan for them. They'll find somewhere else to be and let their Jaffa and even human slaves sacrifice themselves protecting their gods.

"Adkhar we can take you back with us. We're out here looking for allies to help battle the Goa'uld. I know you're not of the Lannie cast that can make decisions concerning an alliance with Earth, but we can perhaps find a way to get you back home and then we can meet with the proper authorities and get relations started. Saving you and your troops from this hellhole may be a foot in the door with your people," Buffy said watching for Adkhar's reaction to her snap decision.

Adkhar was from a workers cast family who also were non-traditionalist. So despite the objections from the two traditionalists amongst his fellow survivors he agreed the Maj Summers' offer of rescue. "Mistress we agree to accompany back through gate to your home."

"Great saddle up and…" Buffy began then stopped noticing the Lannies were confused, "Err, I mean gather up your get and get ready to move out. Adkhar your troops will be in the center of the column. Napple take drag with half of our group. The rest of you will be up from with Dawn and I. The CBTROBs will take point and drag." When she saw Adkhar's people were ready she waved her right hand overhead and said, "From up and move out!" She ordered the Alpha Team of CBTROBs to take point with the Bravo Team taking rear guard or drag. Their column moved out in a staggered tactical column with five meters between each robot or person. Buffy was sure that Starbuck would say something less than nice about working with Toasters, but LT Thrace was from another time.

TCS ICARUS FORMERLY THE HIMS ICARUS EMBER SYSTEM 2 PARSECS FROM PROMETHEUS SYSTEM

LT Simon La Cross sat in his Command Chair on the small five person bridge for the TCS ICARUS. VADM Giles assigned his ship to patrol the neighboring systems. La Cross started with Prometheus System arriving shortly after the MV LEONIDAS left for Earth. He ordered the ICARUS sat down at the frontier starport that the colonists setup.

At New Sunnydale the ICARUS frontier refueled. This operation required that hoses be attached to ICARUS' water intakes of her fuel scoop system. Where she normally fly through a Gas Giant's atmosphere scooping raw hydrogen to crank for its deuterium, on water or wet worlds though it worked best to syphon the water to processed for its deuterium from large bodies of free standing water like lakes or seas. The Engineering Crew of the ICARUS attached and ran out the syphoning hoses placing the intakes into Sparta Bay.

After some gathering, dressing, butchering, and storing of some fresh meat culled from a Promethean elk herd, Simon ordered the ICARUS to its next patrol station. This was where they were now. Ember was not a garden world by any stretch of anyone's imagination. However Simon, the officers and crew, and the ICARUS weren't here to explore, that would be a follow-on mission once new Fremont-Class Explorers were built.

Their mission was to scout for Goa'uld ships near Earth and jump away to warn the homeworld if they encounter any. They weren't to engage unless attacked, but then they were to break off and jump back to Earth via the best route to avoid encountering the enemy or to misdirect as to their ultimate destination. Simon was ordered to use frontier refueling wherever possible. He hid the ICARUS in the upper atmosphere of the Ember System's largest gas giant where the ship frontier refueled before taking up station.

Now it was a waiting game no different than the submarine missions of the Cold War. Simon knew that his ship could be used like the U-Boats of Earth's Second World War. That was not the mission this time. This was an intelligence gathering operation. "We hide with pride now, right Chief?" Simon said to Chief Petty Officer Tamara Adams, the ICARUS' Chief of Boat.

"Aye sir," replied the ship's senior NCO as she monitored the work of the Sensor Technician on watch. "Hiding with pride now sir; Sensor Technician Third Class Robinson, go passive! Communications Technician Second Class Bronson observe communications' blackout procedures save for listening for enemy transmissions." She turned to a nearby ship's intercom panel and picked up a handset. She cued the ship wide alert tone once then said, "This is Chief Adams as per the Skipper's orders all departments are to observe emissions silence as of now." Then she hung the handset back onto its cradle. "Sir Ship's secure for Silent Running."

At that moment the TCS ICARUS became a piece of the background radiation of Space. With only their passive sensors on and their active ones on standby the ICARUS' crew sat in a stationary orbit in the outer atmosphere of Ember's largest gas giant. They just watched and waited. An hour into their watch they were rewarded as a large hyperspace window opened close to the gas giant. "Shush everyone," LT La Cross said quietly to those on the Bridge. "They haven't a clue anyone is here."

"CON, Sensors, detecting active em sensor search," said ST3C Robinson quietly as he held an earphone cup of a headset to his right ear while listening for the signs of an active sensor search by the enemy ship. "Signal profile is consistent with sensor frequencies captured by the SGC," he added softly. "Signal emissions match that of a Ha'Tak-Class Mothership," he added next still whispering. The tension was almost as thick as if they were an American sub in the Pacific or a German U-Boot in the Atlantic during WW-2 hiding from enemy destroyers and escorts.

TERRA (EARTH)/ SOL SUBSECTOR/ ONE WEEK AFTER MV LEONIDAS LEFT PROMETHEUS

800,000 miles over Earth's southern hemisphere a bright flash of bluish white light announced the opening of a jump window and as soon as it faded MV LEONIDAS proceeded at its full 2 Gs acceleration for the northern hemisphere and San Diego, California. "Tucker when we get over San Diego, call the tower at their airport and ask for landing instructions. Tell them we only need an empty grassy field about the size of a baseball diamond or a similar sized piece of a concrete parking lot or landing pad for a large helicopter," Warren said as he piloted the ship north over the Equator.

The TCS CASTOR was on system's recon patrol so TCS POLLUX was with the TCS AUGUSTUS on High Guard Station. LT Elizabeth Wilkes saw the approach of the Private Merchant Packet with the IFF Transponder identifying it as the MV LEONIDAS. "Merchant Vessel LEONIDAS, this is the Gunned Escort POLLUX heave to, state your business and make ready for a boarding party," her Executive Officer and Command Pilot LTJG Alice Peeler said from the Pilot's Station on the POLLUX's Bridge. LT Wilkes turned the Ship's Intercom to the Marine Bunk Room and said, "Staff Sergeant Ramos get your men ready for a ship inspection. We have a ship identifying itself as the MV LEONIDAS. Just in case go full combat armor. Don't want to take a chance of anyone on that ship being infected and transformed. From what the after action reports read on the Battle of Sunnydale and the Battle of West Santa Barbara the disease turns people into homicidal monsters. If the ship is infected we have orders to destroy it before it reaches Earth."

In Marine's Bunk Room SSgt Carla Ramos listened to the Skipper and said, "Aye, Skipper." Then she turned to the other fourteen Marines of the POLLUX's SHIP'S TROOPS DETACHMENT and said, "Ok gear up in hard suits were going in prepared to deal with Zeds. I want fatal loads in all gauss weapons. Full O-two tanks too, don't go over there without full tanks on your Lobster Suits." To a chorus of Aye-Ayes she smiled as her Marines readied themselves for a possible hostile boarding action. She got out of her utilities which she wore over her Monocrys vaccsuit which doubled as the skin suit for wear under the Marine Combat Hard Suit she began to put on. The hard suit itself was rated as an armored vaccsuit for extremely hazardous vacuum and zero-G environments. The last thing before the armored sealed gauntlets every Marine put on was the armored Assault Boots. This part of the Hard Suit included built in electromagnetic grips for situations where a Marine might want decent footing when the gravitic plates in the decks of most starships fail.

Anyone who's ever seen any of the Star Wars movies would think that the Marines after armoring up looked like Storm Troopers would have been off. The Marine Combat Armor or Combat Hard Suit fit better than Storm Trooper Armor. The Helmet had a full armored face plate with a Head's Up Display, 120 channel secure medium range communicator, and audio-visual interface with the built in computer in the armor. This Computer could be interfaced with contact points on the Marines' weapons so that a targeting reticle would appear on the HUD in the helmet. The helmet's visors allowed the Marines to have telescopic binocular vision along with full depth perception when using the built in dark vision system which allowed them to see in pitch blackness.

The standard gauss assault rifle was a higher tech version of the TCMC's KG56A3 the IMPERIAL MARINE CORPS' KG29A7 only the KG29 had a built in 25mm underbarrel electromagnetic grenade launcher instead of an attached one. Every Marine was a riflemen and a grenadier thusly. The KG29 could take the KG56's magazine-power packs and the built in EMGL could take the same grenades as the 56's attached EMGL. This allowed full interchangeability between the former Imperial Marines and the Terran Confederation Marines. Only the former Third Imperium Marines had better quality gear because of the difference in the Tech Level of the Confederation and the Imperium. It was night and day different than the difference the TCMC had with its Ziru Sirka counterparts. The TCMC met and surpassed the Ziru Sirka Army a long time ago.

Down on Earth the SGC's White Coat Brigade was studying sample KG56s and KG29s as well as all the Third Imperium and Terran Confederation gear as part of the reverse engineering needed to bring this Earth up to where it could defend itself against the Goa'uld Empire and its various System Lords. That process had only just begun so most of the newly forming reconstituted TCMC was made up of volunteers from the United States Marine Corps, the British Royal Marine Commandos, the Dutch Royal Marines, the Australian Royal Marines, Infantry units of the Canadian Defense Force trained in Marine tactics and operations, German Naval Security units, Russian Naval Infantry, Polish Naval Infantry, and French Marines. The main proviso was that these volunteers must have met their nation's minimum service obligation before enlisting in the Terran Confederation Marine Corps. The same went for those personnel seeking either commissions or enlistments in the Terran Confederation Navy. TCMC Officers not already on the rolls of the TCMC's Officer Corps had to meet their nations' minimum obligation for serving as an Officer and must resign their national commissions before taking a TCMC one.

As it was POLLUX's STD was made up of the original personnel who had dressed up as Marines of the Third Imperium's Imperial Naval Marine Corps. SSgt Ramos dressed up as an Imperial Marine Command so her hard suit was actually a suit of Type 438-B Redding Assault Battledress Powered Exoskeleton Armor. She actually was armed normally with a FGMP-12A2 Fusion Battle Rifle which fires a 3000 kilojoule fusion bolt. On this mission though she will use the INMC issue KG29 GAR. From her the briefings she got on the Goa'uld she knew she would use the FBR for any boarding parties on a Ha'Tak. The bolt of the FBR would cause an instant kill on a Jaffa soldier or a Goa'uld overseer even if only from a grazing hit.

Trouble is that an FBR would be overkill in boarding a HERO-Class Private Merchant in the event things went sour. The fusion bolt would burn its way through the hull plating and expose that section to space. Not a good idea if the crew of the boarded ship and its passengers aren't in vaccsuits. So Carla chose her issue KG29 GAR instead. She made sure she had it loaded up for close combat encounters of the deadly kind just in case and put spare magazine-power packs (mpps) into the pouches of her loadbearing vest. She also made sure she had spare mpps for her integral UBEMGL (underbarrel electromagnetic grenade launcher.) The UBEMGL fired a 25mm grenade and those came in HEDP, SABOTTED BUCKSHOT, BEANBAG, TRANQGAS, SMOKE, and TEARGAS. "All right people saddle up and head to the boat bay!" she said as she put on her helmet and began a systems check and headcount of her overstrengthed squad.

MV LEONIDAS IN HOLDING POSITION NEAR EARTH AWAITING INSPECTION TEAM FROM TCS POLLUX:

Capt. Warren Mears, First Officer Tucker Wells and Engineering Officer Jonathan Levinson waited in the companion way that granted access to the port air lock and to the Low Berth Suite. "Ok be on you best behavior. The Leather Necks coming over from that Gunned Escort aren't TCMC Marines, but former Third Imperium Imperial Marines. They'll likely still out of habit enforce the Third Imperials interstellar maritime law, not the TC's. So don't even try to pull the wool over their eyes. The Marines will likely be in Battledress or even Marine Combat Armor. That's why I had us get our Monocrys vaccsuits on and our retractable hooded light vaccsuit helmets instead of the hard helmets. I don't what anything going wrong. We need to get to San Diego so we can frontier refuel in the harbor there and off-load the samples we've brought. Then we need to fly to Sacramento to file a claim on our colony in the name of the Spartan Interstellar Trading Company and file the incorporation papers to make SITC an LLC," Mears said as a reminder before the Marines came to inspect.

They'd been gone for over a month now and likely the homefolks would be concerned about them being either infected by the Virus or some sort of space bug. That was why, Mears was sure, the POLLUX had the LEONIDAS heave to and prepare to be boarded. So he put his Monocrys vaccsuit on under his best uniform and made sure the rest did too. He then made sure he had a tablet with the ship's logs and manifest ready for the leader of the inspection party to look over. He was sure in some ways the new Terran Confederation Navy and the related Terran Confederation Marine Corps were going to be more like the later Third Imperium's Navy and Marine Corps because as they left system to escape the situation growing in Sunnydale the LEONIDAS detected Imperial IFF transponders, not the Vilani Ziru Sirka, but the Third Imperium of Humaniti.

As Mears waited for the Assault Craft to transit from the POLLUX to the LEONIDAS and dock with the port air lock he thought of what it meant to have such an Imperial presence since the Halloween Event. The TC was more of a government than the UN, but if there were officers with experience in the Third Imperium, Earth could be the birthplace of Humanity's greatest government in the long run rather than Sylea. He remembered all he could of the future history as spelled out by the Classic Traveller Game and even the later Mega Traveller expansions. The Interstellar Wars campaign that he and Xander designed was played using CT and its expansions, not the MT or later Traveller the New Era rule sets. In fact the new Terran Confederation would be an improvement of the nationalist oriented space society of AD: 2300's Earth. That society had built itself up from the ruins of that universe's World War Three. Mears shivered thinking he was glad that it wasn't that universe he dressed as a starship merchant captain from. The normal Traveller universe was just fine. No Virus to infect your ship's computer to make it into a HAL 9000 from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and trap you aboard a ghost ship, no Imperial Civil War threatening to destroy Mankind's greatest civilization, none of that. Heck in the timeline he and Xander chose they didn't even have the Ramshackle Empire of the Rule of Man.

This new turn of events could spell the growth of an interstellar Earth centric human polity that could rival the Ziru Sirka if it exists in this universe and perhaps let humanity slip the bounds of its mother world. He then thought of the trade that an expansion of humans into surrounding space would mean. Not just Earth's humans, but all the now native races of Earth thanks to the Halloween Event.

Back on Prometheus in New Sunnydale out of the sixty plus colonist that arrived on the LEONIDAS there were three families of Forgotten Realms Moon Elves and one of Wood Elves. They decided that living with the humans who made up the rest of the small colony would be in their best interest. One of the Elves when she was a human had been a doctor and she began the New Sunnydale Health Clinic. Another, a male had been a Mechanical Engineer living is Old Sunnydale, but working in Santa Barbara and he began a smithy and machine shop with the only Dwarf, a man who before Halloween had been one of Sunny D's best mechanics and who ran his one metal fabrication shop. New Sunnydale was left in the capable hands of the Council of Elders the colony's government led by the parents of Mears, Wells, and Levinson.

None of the Colonists elected to return to Earth. So the LEONIDAS except for some mineral, flora, and fauna samples deadheaded it back to Earth. The holds were relatively empty. The mineral samples were secure in the Secure Cargo Hold, the flora and fauna samples were secured in the Low Berth Suite in Low Berths. Mears was surprised to see Earth plants and animals on Prometheus as were several of the others amongst the Colonists. These subspecies of the native Earth ones had adapted to Prometheus slightly higher gravity and denser atmosphere, but thrived there.

Two of the samples were a young male and a young female hominid similar to the extinct Australopithecus. The pair wondered into New Sunnydale wounded, tired and hungry. Doctor Amber Collins still using her old human name helped them by closing and covering their wounds, replacing their lost fluids, and feeding them some small meals between the time the pair wondered into the village and that when Mears launched LEO back to Earth to let home know what was going on. The understanding was that the native Prometheans would return with the LEO on Mears' journey back. This voyage was a supply and business rule first off and a returning scientific expedition second.

The thump of the Assault Craft docking with the port air lock sounded and Jonno went to the air lock controls to confirm that the other vessel had a hard seal. "Assault Craft POLLUX ONE you have a hard and secure seal. You may open your air lock and enter ours," Jonno said over the commlink with the boarding party. He watched through the inner hatch's view port to see the air lock chamber fill with a five person Marine Fire Team then the outer door was closed and sealed. The safety lights on the inner control panel went from red to green so Jonno opened the inner hatch.

It was only Warren, Tucker, and Jonno in the companion way as even young Terry knew Andrew despite his apparent maturity from his mystical aging was still the nerdy teenager he was over a month ago. Everyone knew if Andrew saw these Marines in their Combat Armor Hard Suits and their leader in a powered Battledress suit would spaz out like the Sci-Fi geek he was. So Terry had him helping with inventorying the samples and checking over the engines and power plant along with the weapons controls, and avionics, anything to keep Andy from seeing the Marines.

SSgt Ramos was happy to see that the senior officers of the LEONIDAS were appearing to be normal humans and even her multiscanner issued to her by the POLLUX's Pharmacist's Mate showed these people were free of the Virus. She'd left one fire team on duty back on the POLLUX and the other in the hold of the Assault Craft as backup for her team who she took with her into the LEONIDAS to conduct the inspection.

Warren led SSgt Ramos around the ship on the inspection. The Marine NCO looked over the manifest and downloaded them and the ship's logs for LT Wilkes to look over aboard the POLLUX as SSgt Ramos led the inspection of the LEO. Warren showed the live samples in the low berths saying, "These will be returned to the wild back on Prometheus after we've shown them to the proper experts. It seems someone set Prometheus up as a sort of preserve, but there are remains of an earlier civilization we discovered not far from the valley on the peninsula we're claiming for the Colony of Sparta and the site our town of New Sunnydale."

SSgt Ramos was recording everything with her audiovisual sensors built into her armor. She said, "That's good, though I don't think that the Terran Confederation has go that far along in thinking out the laws covering primitives and archeological sites. Last I heard the five Permanent Members of the Security Council and their major allies were still hammering out the TC's constitution which looks like it's heavily modeled on the American one with separation of powers, a Bill of Rights, and recognition of the rights of member nations. It seems that they've established the People's Republic of China as the bare minimum of human rights standards to obtain before filing for membership. Not all of Earth's nations are being invited in. Mostly it's the GATT nations, NATO nations, the stronger of the Eastern European nations, Israel and Jordan, Morocco, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Taiwan, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Honduras, South Africa, Iceland, Kenya, and of course the Permanent Members of the Security Council. Mostly it's the more stable of the world's nations joining and those with the better human's rights records as of this date."

Warren looked over at the armored Marine who had yet to take off her helmet and asked, "Why would all those nations unite? I mean it's not like there's the threat of the Vilani Ziru Sirka coming to conquer us is there?" He looked at her wishing she would take off her helmet so he could gauge how she felt about the changes even happening on Earth.

"Captain Mears in your absence there's been some disclosures. One of which was the revelation by the United States Air Force's Stargate Command not only of its existence, and that of them finding out how to use our world's stargate, but that because of a First Contact situation that went bad more due to the actions of one Ra than of the initial contact team's we as a world are now at war with the Goa'uld Empire and its ruling System Lords. Except for Major Summers bringing back survivors of a Vilani military expedition to Kaguk a planet controlled by the Goa'uld in this subsector, We haven't had contact yet with the Vilani," SSgt Ramos said in order to bring Mears up to speed as limited as her information was.

Warren, Tucker, and Jonno took that in and it was Jonno who said, "So that's why Earth is uniting or at least some of its nations? I hope they let us build more ships like the LEONIDAS as we'll need ships to carry out trade with any new colonies we make and to haul colonists to them. After all, the Americas were colonized mostly with sailing ships not much bigger than a Hero-Class Private Merchant."

SSgt Ramos saw that these folks had been making plans too during the month or so they were gone from Earth. "Well yes, the Goa'uld Empire is run by an eel like creatures that invades people warping themselves around their victims' spinal cords. Afterwards they enslave the hosts taking over the bodies and leaving the hosts prisoners within their own minds. The Goa'uld also seeded other worlds with humans they kidnapped from Earth thousands of years ago to have slaves, genetic stock for their slave soldiers the Jaffa, and new hosts for the Goa'uld."

Warren looked at once both frightened and concerned about the source of the Sergeant's information. "Sergeant just how did you get this information?" he asked. He looked at the Sergeant incredulously.

SSgt Ramos said in terse response, "Captain Mears while you've been colonizing Prometheus the TCN and TCMC have been working with the SGC to up lift Earth and we've been briefed as to what the SGC has found out about the galaxy beyond our little planet." Then SSgt Ramos took off her helmet so that Warren could see her face and added, "Before the Halloween Event I never thought I would be in space, but the Spruance-Class Destroyer I served on became the four Fiery-Class Gunned Escorts and our crew was splint between them with Lieutenant Commander Malcom Jones our ship's commander becoming our Squadron Commander. The Skipper wanted a themed Halloween Party for the ship. So everyone dressed in uniforms and costumes purchased with Ship's Funds from Ethan Rayne's Unique Costumes and Surplus. When his spell took affect on the USS Sprague and her Officers and Crew we became the Imperial Navy and Imperial Marine Corps personnel we dressed as. Now we are USN and USMC personnel seconded to the Terran Confederation Navy and Marine Corps. By the way if you are landing in San Diego you will have to land at Naval Station Coronado. That is where all space craft are being stationed. That includes a certain civilian Private Merchant and his crew. Yes LCDR Blaisdell returned last week and briefed Admiral Giles. We already knew about your colony on Prometheus." Ramos cocked her head as if she was listening to messages from the rest of her boarding party then looked at Mears, "Captain Mears you'll be happy to know none of your crew has the Virus nor have they been infected by a Goa'uld. The two hominids you have in Low Berth are clear too." Then she called up a document from her wristcomp and transferred it to Capt. Mears' "This is your base pass for NAS Coronado. You need it to get off base and also back on. You will need to work with Vice Admiral Giles about transportation for any supplies you've come to get and livestock."


	6. Chapter 6

INTREPID CHP 6

CHAPTER SIX

PETERSON AFB, COLORADO TWO WEEKS AFTER CAPTAIN SUMMERS' TEAM RETURNED FROM KAGUK, SOL SUBSECTOR, SIRIUS SECTOR

Terran Confederation Navy Lieutenant Marina D'Arc stood by the loading ramp of her Puller-Class Assault Ship. The small 300 dton ship could haul two M1A2 Abrams Main Battle Tanks or four M2 series Bradley IFVs, four M113 Gavin APCs or four Stryker wheeled IFVs plus their crews and the dismounts for the IFVs and APCs. The TCS John Basilone could take his load out to a distance of three parsecs in a single jump. LT D'Arc was proud of the fact that this ship named for a World War Two Marine who returned to combat after earning and being awarded the Medal of Honor only to die in the Battle of Iwo Jima was hers.

On Halloween Martina and the entire membership of her LCU squadron dressed for a theme party orchestrated by the senior officers of the Kwajalein Assault Group. The Rayne Effect turned them all into their costumes and all ten of their LCU 1610s were transformed into five Puller-Class Assault Ships as found in the GURPS Traveller source book Star Mercs. As it was she commanded a section made up of two of their LCUs or Landing Craft Utility. Since their boats were deep water capable she assumed that whatever power converted them into the 100 feet long by fifty feet wide by thirty tall with landing gear retracted starships used the material available to conserve mass and matter. The Pullers unlike the LCU 1610s they replaced have bow and stern ramps for onload/ offload operations. The LCUs only had a bow ramp. But like the LCU boats they were made from there were Crew accommodations.

Unlike the LCUs though the Pullers' crew consisted of a Ship's Captain/ Pilot (usually a Lieutenant), an Executive Officer/ Navigator (usually a LTJG), a Chief of Boat (usually a Senior Chief Petty Officer or a Chief Petty Officer), a Machinist's Mate (PO1C with drive and power plant mechanics skills), and three Gunner's Mates (1 PO2C and 2 PO3Cs). This made for a crew of seven officers and Petty Officers. There wasn't a Mess Steward so the crew prepared its own meals cooking in rotation and lacking a Pharmacist's Mate one of the Gunner's Mates was cross trained as a Hospital Corpsman. Crew accommodations consisted of two double occupancy state rooms and a bunk room attached to the Crew Lounge and Galley with a common fresher or Head with showers. There were also enough bunkrooms to accommodate a platoon of Marines or soldiers.

Martina's TCS John Basilone stood now on the tarmac at Peterson AFB, Colorado on the east-northeast side of Colorado Springs. Standing by the loading/ unloading ramp LT D'Arc watched as some TCMC Marines escorted a squad of Vilani troops up to her ship. She knew her mission was to taxi these Lannie troops home.

Martina's ship was stocked for a nine week voyage to the world the Lannies called Nusku which was about six parsecs coreward of Earth. That counted three two parsec jumps to Nusku, a three week stay on the planet, and three jumps on the return trip to Earth. The United States Air Force seemed to have worked overtime in getting refined deuterium for the Basilone's jump fuel tanks. This gave her and the ship time to make the jump after reaching the 800,000 mile zone around Earth. This distance was Earth's 100 planetary diameter, radius. Jumping before reaching that point was disastrous to the ship, crew and the planet you were leaving.

The safe zone for jumping from a planet was at a radius equal to 100 times the planet's diameter or the 100PDZ as it was called in Fleet circles. Any ship jumping before then risked dangers from doing so within the planet's gravity well. Jump drives worked best when at the outer edge of a planet's gravity well. Martina was thinking over this and other issues as she watched the squad of TCMC Marines and the section sized unit of Ziru Sirka Army troops get close enough now to make out the details of their faces. It was still cold even at this altitude in Colorado so she was dressed with a TCN issue flight jacket over her Monocrys skinsuit/ vaccsuit. The vaccsuit kept her warm and also acted as light body armor.

The TCN vaccsuit was designed to resemble a military flight suit, but was fully sealed against hard vacuum. A hood that came with the Monocrys one had a face transparent face covering that allowed vision and the hood worked as a CBR mask or if there were a hull breach a temporary soft helmet until you could find a vaccsuit helmet. For now though Martina's suit was just keeping her warm in the below freezing weather the Springs were enjoying this time of year. The Marines and Lannies were closer now. She could make out details of their gear now. The Lannies wore US Issue BDUs over their skinsuits to camouflage them from any eyes whose owners lacked proper security clearances.

The leader of the TCMC squad approached and Martina realized that this was a TCMC Major and since the current Corps was so small there could only be one of four Majors in the Colorado Springs area, Major Elizabeth Summers. Then she saw that the squad had only two humans the other six members were Miyeritari. Only a handful of those who dressed as Drow or Dark Elves last Halloween in what was once Sunnydale dressed also as TCMC Marines. So this had to be the TCMC SG team.

Once the Marines and their Vilani guests were all stowed away and in their bunkrooms Martina gave the orders for her crew to make way. She'd had nearly three months learning the systems of the Basilone despite over eight years of experience remembered being a commander of this same ship or its original in that other universe. Martina wasn't comfortable with trusting someone else's memories she inherited because of some mad mage's practical joke gone awry.

"Chief, tell the crew and our passengers we're launching as soon as we get clearance from Peterson Tower," Martina said as she sat in the Pilot's chair. The small bridge housed the ship's controls, sensors, communications suite, and gunnery fire control stations. The Puller's were heavily automated and all work stations other than Engineering were located on the Bridge. The crew and passenger accommodations, Bridge, and Main Engineering were all on the upper deck while the lower deck was a roll-on/ roll-off cargo bay. The Cargo Bay was also the main air lock though there were two personnel air locks on the upper deck for ship to ship transfer of people and to allow EVA suited workers to repair damage to the exterior hull.

The Chief of Boat nodded and picked up a handset from a ship's communications system panel by the hatch into the Bridge. "Attention All Hands make ready for lift off in five… four… three… two… one…" By the time he got to three the landing struts were retracted into their storage wells. On two the Basilone's contra-gravity lifters were allowing vertical take-off and the ship was climbing skyward. On one the maneuver drives kicked in and the ship was flying towards space. The ship had reached its maximum air speed by the time it was 1000 feet off the ground at Peterson and was climbing faster than an F-16 Falcon in a vertical climb at full thrust.

It took about three and a half hours to reach the 100 PDZ and once there Martina switched her commlink to ship wide and said, "Attention all hands this is the Captain make ready for jump in five… four… three… two… one…" Inside the ship it seemed that everything first stretched then shrank back, but outside the small ship just disappeared from real space with a flash of bright bluish white light.

JUMP SPACE FIRST WEEK

Live aboard ship is monotonous in J-Space. The first jump to Bernard's Star was uneventful and the only duties everyone had was maintaining their equipment and for the Marines and the Lannie troops this included operator maintenance on their armor, small arms and crew served weapons. The Marines and the Lannies used the nearly empty cargo bay for their daily Physical Training or PT. It got to the point that those of the Basilone's officers and crew not on duty were joining in on Major Summers' PT sessions and on her tactical drills. That was the other thing the Marines and the Lannies were running joint tactical drills.

These drills consisted of the Lannies or the Marines playing the part of the OPFOR or opposing forces. These mostly were counter boarding actions with the Vilani teaching tactics to the Marines and the Basilone's crew with emphasis on dealing with Jaffa troops of the Goa'uld Empire. Adkhar the Vilani Gunnery Sergeant looked at everyone during one of the Lannie led training sessions and said, "The Jaffa are tough, but they aren't unstoppable. Their plasma rifles are also melee weapons and are called Matok Staves. They don't have an aim laser or any sort of sights. The Jaffa troops just point them in the general direction of their targets missing more times than hitting. Their plasma bolts are dangerous for unarmored or lightly armored troops. Your Terran Confederation Marine Combat Armor and Battledress are more than sufficient to protect you against Matok Staff blast. Tactical Vest, like yours or ours, work best if they have their trauma plates present to ward damage from the plasma bolts. Our combat armor is on par with yours as is our battledress. Now yours and our plasma and fusion guns man portable and the Third Imperium's Imperial Marine Fusion Battle Rifles will burn their way through even Jaffa armor, which is only a mixture of trinium plate and chainmail. The Jaffa armor isn't even resistant to armor piercing rounds from Advanced Combat Rifles let alone those from coil or as you people call them Gauss rifles."

The lectures and lessons on the Goa'uld, the Jaffa and their battle tactics went on during even the real space transits of Bernard's Star's little planetary system and that of Agidda the first of the Vilani worlds encountered by the Basilone. The only stops in either system were to do a frontier refueling at one of the gas giants in the Bernard's Star's system and at the Lannie Minor Colonial Starport on Agidda. On that minor Vilani colonial world they even stocked up on fresh foods learning to eat some of the Vilani vegetables and meats. To avoid spreading of Earth illnesses to the Vilani of Agidda and theirs to the Earthers full combat armor or vaccsuits were the order of the day off ship. Visiting Vilani officials were advised to wear vaccsuits on the Basilone to prevent an exchange of diseases that way.

"We don't want a repeat of what we on Earth call the Columbian Exchange," said LT D'Arc after being asked by a local Sharurshid official about the precaution. "You see in our pre-space faring days when we were just beginning to venture around our plane in wooden Deep Ocean going sailing ships explorers from our continent of Europe sailing west found out that we had another continental mass between their home port and those of their destination. In the years that followed the Europeans transferred either accidentally or by design diseases they had either immunity or resistance to yet they also returned to Europe with others they couldn't resist. The resulting pandemics devastated many of the native populations of the western hemisphere. The diseases from the Americas as those lands became to be known as ravaged many European cities too. This was the major negative exchange other than nearly constant wars of conquest on the part of our European ancestors and a growing dependency on European technologies by the natives of the Americas."

Adkhar and his people nodded for the history of their ancestral Vland was very similar up until Planetary Unification. "I hope that we will avoid such a devastating exchange Lieutenant D'Arc," Adkhar said as the Agiddan colonial official nodded after Adkhar translated though he knew that D'Arc, Summers and the rest of the Terrans on the Basilone spoke at least Low Vilani the Sharurshid Administrator was being a typical Vilani homeworlder and acting as if the Terrans were barbarians.

Being only a NCO in the Vilani Army and from the Worker Cast Adkhar held his temper and his voice at the barely concealed rudeness of the Sharurshid Managerial Cast man. Later he would apologize to LT D'Arc and Maj Summers. He was embarrassed by the Administrators behavior toward the Terrans and those in their ranks who were Vilani, but born in the Third Imperium of Man. His men just gritted their teeth and held their anger at the Sharurshid's ignorance and ill manners.

The third jump from Agidda to Nusku was a repeat of the previous two jumps and again nothing occurred that was unusual. The Basilone exited J-Space a week later at Nusku's 100PDZ and made its way under escort by Vilani Systems Defense Boats to the planet's starport.

The transfer of Adkhar and his over strength squad of Ziru Sirka Army troops was met with rather restrained and understated gratitude. The Earthers were treated as honored guests for bringing home the survivors of the Kaguk Expedition and world that the Goa'uld base there was indeed destroyed by the sacrifice of the expedition's ground commander and the majority of her forces. Adkhar's troops were welcomed too as heroes for their perseverance in the face of adversity working together to survive and with the Earthers to find their way home. With typical Vilani flair no individual soldier was acclaimed a hero, but the whole of Adkhar's remnant force were declared heroes of the Ziru Sirka.

The officers and crew of the Basilone spent another two weeks on Nusku along with Major Summers and her Marines. They didn't know yet that during their voyage things yet again turned bad for Earth.

P3R-233

Jack and Sam were looking around for Daniel in the facility they had found. Teal'c was searching also through the complex. Yet the good Doctor was nowhere to be seen. He had found a room where many artifacts were stored and was last seen looking at something that appeared to be a mirror.

Hours later Jack and Sam find Daniel lying on the floor by the mirror. He has a staff weapon burn and is barely alive and unconscious. O'Neill looking over Dr. Jackson says, "Daniel! What the hell is this?"

Teal'c examines Daniel and matter of factly states, "It appears to be caused by a staff weapon."

O'Neill pulls out the yellow piece of paper with the Goa'uld coordinates out of Jackson's hand. He looks it over and then hands it to Carter

Carter studies it then says, "This looks like a Stargate address."

O'Neill looks around then down at Daniel, "Alright, let's get him back to Earth."

Feeling that he's being moved Jackson suddenly awakens. Jackson looks shocked and scared shouting, "No! Jack! We're all in very big trouble! They're coming!"

Jack looks at Daniel curiously and asks, "Who's coming Daniel?"

Daniel looks at the mirror and then at his friends and says quite emphatically with much trepidation, "The Goa'uld are going to attack Earth, our Earth!" He looks back at the mirror and says pointing at it, "That's a gateway to alternate universes and in the one I just was in the Goa'uld have found Earth and are invading it as we speak. I have to warn our world that we are going to face the same sort of attack real soon Jack!"

Jack looked at the mirror then at Daniel and said, "Just what did you do over there Space Monkey?" He saw that Daniel was deathly pale from fear, a deep foreboding fear that gripped him well into his soul.

"I found myself on an alternate P3R-233 after I touched the mirror's surface. I thought you all had returned to Earth without me so I dialed home and keyed in my code to get them to open the Iris. I spent some time learning that I hadn't returned home at all, but had found myself on a different Earth. Jack you were a Brigadier General in command of the SGC and Sam you were the lead civilian scientist." He looked sadly at Teal'c, "Teal'c you were still Apophis' First Prime. It appears after their Earth opened the stargate back up they didn't encounter your alter ego's Chulak nor did they convince him to defect. He led the invasion of Earth."

Looking sadly back at the mirror Jackson then said, "They're dying over there and we'll be suffering the same fate soon. I just know we will for our Apophis will find Earth and after the Vilani destroyed his base on Kaguk he's sure to think it was us who did it." Jackson was now worried because in that other universe the Vilani weren't the powerful buffer state between Earth and the majority of the Goa'uld Empire. They were just another subjugated race over there.

Jack got Daniel up and then rallied SG-1 to get back to Earth and report what Jackson found on the other side of the looking glass. Perhaps even to warn the SGC, the Terran Confederation and Earth of an impending attack by the Goa'uld. Jack just knew this was going to end badly for them in the long run. Earth only just began building the slipways for constructing Agrippa-Class Destroyers and Intrepid-Class Strike Cruisers as well as the newly designed Prometheus-Class Battle Cruisers. Unlike a similar ship in an alternate universe the Prometheus-Class was to be named for planets in the Terran Confederation. As soon as the slipways were complete at Nellis AFB's Groom Lake facility formerly called Area 51, now called Groom Lake Naval Starport the Intrepid-Class Resolve, the Agrippa-Class Marcus Aurelius, Trajan, Constantine and Hadrian, the Prometheus and Terra were all going to have their keels laid.

Jack hurried everyone through the gate once their IDCs were accepted and made his report to Maj Gen Hammond and VADM Giles. The senior commanders of Joint Allied Forces Command Stargate then reported what SG-1 had found out to the Security Council and their respective national governments. The Terran Confederation Constitutional Convention was still drafting the Constitution of the new Terran Confederation. In the meantime the United Nations found itself in a position similar to the government that the United States had under the Articles of Confederation. The United Nations Charter was a far weaker document and left the UN far from strong enough to deal with an interstellar threat to the planet.

The one saving grace so far was that Boeing was able to back engineer and build a version of the Fiery-Class Gunned Escort and also a version of the Puller-Class Assault Ships. So many were needed that the American, British, Russian, French, and Chinese governments contracted the work out to all the major military aircraft manufactures of Earth. Even the Israelis found themselves building complete Israeli variants of the two small starships.

Another design being back engineered was the Fremont-Class Scout/ Courier and also a civilian prospecting version was being built to explore the Asteroid Belt for needed industrial minerals. Lockheed-Martin was even designing and building each a mining ship and a refining ship. Civilian space companies were registering with the nations of the EU, the United States, Russia, China, Japan, etc. to get a start on developing the system.

These developments were all well and good, but Col O'Neill, Capt Carter, Dr. Jackson and many within the SGC and the TCAF (Terran Confederation Armed Forces) new that time was soon to run short. They would have to rely on the small Starfleet they had to defend Earth when the Goa'uld attacked, yes when not if.

COMMANDER'S OFFICE TCS INTREPID

CAPT Alexander Harris had completed the latest of the lessons so that he could get this High School Diploma. He was putting away his books and supplies when the growler phone alerted him to an incoming call. "Captain Harris speaking," he said into the mouth piece of the handset.

"Captain this is Lieutenant Commander Kalderash we've got an urgent message from Fleet Command San Diego," said LCDR Jana Kalderash into his hear through the ear piece.

"What's the message Commander?" Harris asked as he put his history book on the shelf behind his desk. He turned back to his desk and listened as LCDR Kalderash read off the warning order from VADM Giles. "Ok alert the crew. I know we've got people yet to see a shakedown cruise let along actual combat, but when the Goa'uld come and engage us there won't be any rooks anymore on this ship nor in this fleet. Tell Willow to warm the maneuver drives up and to spool up the jump drive just in case. Also alert Commander Summers and the Augustus that they are to make ready for a war cruise too. I want Lieutenant Commander Thrace to call the pilots into the Pilots' Ready Room. I will brief the crew from the Command Bridge once I'm there."

After letting LCDR Kalderash know he was on his way he hung up the phone into its cradle on the wall mounted communications panel. Then Harris put on his duty dress uniform's jacket and donned his cover. The three toned gray digital patterned TCNPAT BDU like uniform was now complete. He acknowledged his Marine Security Detail as he left his office and walked onto the Command Bridge. "What's the tactical situation Jesse?" Harris asked of his XO as he walked toward the Holographic Tactical Display Table in the center of the Bridge.

"We've just got a Fleet Warning Order from Vice Admiral Giles at FLEETCOMHQ San Diego. It seems on their recent recon mission through the Gate SG-1 discovered vital strategic intelligence that the Goa'uld will be moving against Earth sooner rather than later. We don't know the exact time table, but Admiral Giles isn't taking any chances. So far the Security Council has sent similar warning orders to the armed forces of the permanent members' nations. As for our current readiness though we have full crews on the INTREPID and AUGUSTUS as well as the ICARUS, DAEDALUS, CASTOR, and POLLUX and on the four remaining PULLERS we and the AUGUSTUS have mostly untried crews."

"I know Jesse and we're going to face a potential war soon. Well it seems history is going to repeat itself again. We thought we'd have time to build up our defense forces, but it seems that from what I'm reading here on the terminal we're not being given the chance. I want active sensors on and at full range. I don't want to miss the enemy entering our system. As soon as the invader's forces are detected I want the INTREPID and the AUGUSTUS' main batteries fully charged and ready to fire." Harris had placed the image of the HTDT to show the whole of Earth's solar system. He was already thinking of his battle plan. He needed good intel as to just what was coming, "Have the Fieries we've got now take up a picket line between Earth and Mars. I want the few Fremonts we have to take up another line just past the asteroid belt on the Jupiter side of it. We need eyes and ears out there. Have them use silent running until we know for sure when we have a hyperspace event."

It hadn't taken Boeing and the other military aircraft companies all that long to tool up to build Fieries and Fremonts as well as Pullers. November and December saw the initial tooling up with the first production models being built throughout January. Here it was early February and the Fleet now had two more Pullers, three more Fremonts, and two more Fieries. The Fieries were the Hercules and the Damocles. The Fremonts were the Kit Carson, the Davy Crockett, and the Daniel Boone. The PULLERS like all in that class were being named for famous Marines or Naval Infantry personnel. The latest PULLERS were the Gregory "Pappy" Boyington and the Thomas Peck Hunter. The Boyington was named for the commander of the USMC's famous VMF-214 the Black Sheep. The Thomas Peck Hunter was named for the only Royal Marine to be awarded the Victoria Cross in World War Two and the last to be awarded same.

CAPT Harris looked over the list of active ships in the Terran Confederation Navy and muttered, "They may not be much, but it's far better than no ships at all." The total Terran fleet was one Strike Cruiser, one Destroyer, six Gunned Escorts, seven Assault Ships and four Scout/ Couriers plus the thirty F/A-40C Warhawks stationed on the INTREPID and the AUGUSTUS. These were the light attack fighters of VFA-132, VMFA-422, and VMFA-334. VMFA-334 or the Falcons was the squadron currently assigned to the TCS AUGUSTUS. VFA-132 "Privateers" and VMFA-422 "Flying Buccaneers" were the INTREPID's attack fighter squadrons.

STARGATE COMMAND BASE BELOW NORAD BASE CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN AFB, COLORADO

Major General Hammond USAF Commander SGC looked at Senator Robert Kinsey (Independent) California with a blood red glare. "Are you saying you're shutting down the Stargate Program?" he all but yelled at the Senator.

Kinsey glared back at Hammond with daggers in his eyes, "Yes, with the President surrendering it to international control I don't see as it is in America's national interest to support it any more. We haven't gained anything from it and with the Rayne Effect, the destruction of one and a half cities in my state I don't want to reward that British Librarian with anymore US treasure than he already has! By rights the AUGUSTUS, INTREPID, and all those other ships are property of the United States, not this upstart, no better than the United Nations mongrel Terran Confederation's! If we can't control the Fleet or the Stargate at all then we won't by God be spending any American money on it either! From here on in the budget will go to building up our own national security and defense! It's American first General and as an officer of the United States Air Force sworn to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies foreign and domestic I would have expected you to take charge of those national defense assets in the name of the Republic. I didn't expect you to betray your oath and your nation by allowing that Tweed Suited Stuffed Shirt to demand that the ships left over by the Rayne Effect be left in international control! I am going to launch a Senate investigation into you and your activities in all of this General and by the time I'm done you won't even have your retirement and perhaps will be spending the rest of your career in Leavenworth Military Disciplinary Barracks with a life sentence!" Kinsey was flaring with anger by the time he finished.

Hammond looked at the two USAF Security Force troops at the door of his office and at Kinsey's two NID goons and with a nod to the Staff Sergeant in command of his personal security detail silent gave the order to have the good Senator and his people escorted of his base. Looking then at the Senator as calmly yet edged with the anger he now felt toward the it would be giving him too much respect to call him one, man said, "Senator you and your people will vacate my base now. You will take your spies in my command with you. You will leave and never return or by god I will send you all to a Goa'uld world and leave you there. Sergeant, take these people off my base and make sure they don't come back!" He then picked up the handset to his phone and keyed the speed dial code for the President.

The USAF Staff Sergeant looked at Sen. Kinsey and his people and said, "Gentlemen if you will…" He was looking at them with one hand on the butt of his pistol and the other gesturing for them to lead the way out the door to General Hammond's office. The other Security Force guards all had their M4s at the ready and were giving the good Senator, his USAF stooges, and NID goons glares that had their stares been bolts fired from fusion guns man portable would have left each person in Kinsey's party nothing but a pile of ash and pair of shoes or boots.

As he was leaving Sen. Kinsey turned and gave Gen. Hammond one last glare saying, "General we're not finished here. You may be forcing us off your base, but I will return with NID security agents, warrants for your arrest and the arrests of all your officers and men. We'll see then just who is on charge here won't we?"

Hammond on the phone waiting for President Ryan glared back at Kinsey and forcefully gestured for the man to leave his office now! "Senator don't come back, it will not go well for you."

The Staff Sergeant then said, "Gentlemen if you would please come with me we'll get you off this base before things get to a point we'll all regret." Kinsey just nodded then and gestured for his people to follow him. As they left the Staff Sergeant's squad fell in around the Senator's party to see that they got of the base without any incidents.

WHITEHOUSE OVAL OFFICE

Jack Ryan had just put down the phone. He had a very long emotional charged talk with Major General Hammond on the subject of Senator Robert Kinsey. The Chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee had some power and somehow had his hands deep up the backside of the NID. National Intelligence Directive, Jack snorted, the NID was supposed to be an oversight agency. Its purview was oversight not operations. Jack had his fill of the NID when he was at CIA. Now it seemed that somehow Senator Kinsey had turned the NID into his personal goon squad. Using it the man had compromised several Officers, NCOs, and other personnel in the Armed Forces creating a shadow force within the government to be used for whatever Kinsey wished.

Thinking of Kinsey's little power empire within the government got Jack to thinking of the Initiative. If it hadn't been for the Rayne Effect the Demon Research Initiative would never had been found out. Recovered records indicated that the Initiative and its base under the ruins of Sunnydale were NID operations with deep black funding and deep security clearances. Even Jacks predecessors didn't have clearance on what the Initiative had been doing under Sunnydale.

If it hadn't been for the former Initiative Black Ops Operator now TCMC Marine Commando Captain Riley Finn none of the Initiative's activities in Sunnydale would have been exposed. Jack shivered thinking of what he read about the late Doctor Margaret "Maggie" Walsh's activities in Sunnydale. The woman was a mixture of the most dangerous mad scientists from fact and fiction rolled into one creepy and dangerous person. She was trying to build from spare parts Frankenstein like monsters as super soldiers for the NID's secret army. Of all the leftovers from before the West Pacific War, the NID and its labyrinth of secrets and covert operations was not one of the dark secrets he could get rid of and bury.

Senator Kinsey for his own goals had backed Ryan's and the Unification Party's plan to rebuild the government after the crash of the Japanese Airline's 747 into the Capital Building at the end of the WPW all but decapitated the US government. Jack finished out his predecessor's term and won his current term with the promise to rebuild the nation and to restore its pride and strengths. Now it seems that the good Senator from California had been building a shadow government all this time. It also seemed that when actions did not fit the Senator's view of what was right for the nation he acted on his own to see that things would be as he saw them and nothing would stop him.

Seething with a growing dislike of Senator Kinsey Jack said under his breath, "We'll see just how far your power will take you Senator." He then picked up his phone's handset from its cradle and dialed a number he knew by heart. When the party on the other end answered all he said at first was, "John, nice to talk to you. How are things going over in England these days?" He listened to the other man's reply then got down to business, "John, you remember Senator Kinsey of California? Well it seems that he's been growing a private army and now he's trying to use it to influence national security and world security policy. I may have a job for you domestically. Your unit may just be what we need over here to prevent a disaster. Here's what I want…"


	7. Chapter 7

INTREPID CHAPTER 7

COLORADO SPRINGS AIRPORT

Senator Robert Kinsey was now seated in a comfortable passenger seat on a private jet which his backers provided. He smiled as soon the Stargate would be in the hand of the NID and would be ran so that his people could take whatever technology and artifacts out there in the galaxy were needed to defend Earth. Across from him seated in a similar chair was a representative of one of his backers. Simon was a very intelligent man if somewhat reserved, no that's not it Kinsey thought looking at the shaved headed African American across from him. His demeanor was that of an iceberg, cold and dangerous. Reserved was more the Asian American woman who was Simon's assistant, Sharon was her name.

Both had remained on the Gulf Stream waiting for the Senator and his NID entourage to return from the ultra-secret Cheyenne Mountain Air Force Base. Simon smiled as Sen. Kinsey took a drink offered to him by Sharon. It had taken Simon years to synthesize a new version of Eight, but he had succeeded and he also succeeded in remaking nearly all the models including those of his parents. All twelve existed again, but this time it was not the Plan to destroy Earth because the Humans of Earth were in fact Simon's people's distant cousins.

Simon was the last of the original Significant Seven who made war on the Colonies of Kobol. His children now were the new synthetic human Cylon Race. He survived with a few of his brothers and some of those bothersome Fives. He also knew where a surviving Resurrection Ship lay hidden by him and some of his brother Fours. He and his remaining brothers back engineered the resurrection technology and found also hundreds of boxed copies of his brothers and sisters and of his parents. So with genetic material salvaged from the wreckage of Basestars and the Colonies he and his brothers rebuilt the Cylon Race and created enough new models from the down loads of Colonials they kept hidden from the Ones on a planet his brothers found oh so long ago to avoid any genetic issues when the Cylons would begin breeding like their Human cousins. No it wasn't quite the plan his parents had, but it was far better than the nihilistic one that John Cavil had.

After he resurrected his race Simon also ensured their survival by allowing interbreeding of the models both the original twelve and those created from the Colonials he kept as test subjects. He had successfully cloned and downloaded three hundred different Colonials out of all the thousands he and his brothers kept on their secret planet. Senator Robert Kinsey was one of his master pieces as were the rest of the Trust's members. Hundreds of synthetic humans in places of shadow power acting as the powers behind the thrones if you will were located around this globe. The trick to this infiltration was that he acted as an adoption agency. He placed his infiltrators into Earth's society as infants and young children saying they were orphans.

Senator Kinsey had been adopted by a childless couple in California and had grown into the man sitting across from him today. Simon was proud of Robert and knew the man would someday help his people to reunite with their brethren on this Earth. Simon smiled as the only other person in the passenger cabin turned and said, "Well Senator how soon can we have control of the Stargate? I mean Simon and I were very patient since we learned of its activation through your reports." The woman was in her mid to upper forties if not her lower fifties. She was muscular and actually quite stunning in a female athletic way.

Diana had once been D'Anna and Simon and his people after separating from John Cavil had found her on the radioactive ruin of their parents' homeworld. Simon's group of Fours and Fives had also rescued some Sixes, Eights, and Twos before finding the sole remaining Three on the burnt out Earth. Besides his secreted away Colonial test subjects it was from these survivors of their race from which he rebuilt the Cylon branch of humanity. Simon thought about this as he, Diana, and Sharon waited for Robert to let them know how soon it would be before they were to take control of the Chappa'ai. Once his people had access to it infiltrating Earth would be so much easier.

Also ridding the Galaxy of the Goa'uld would be that much easier too. That race of parasites enslaved billions of their cousins on countless worlds and it had to pay for this crime. The old human race was long gone, but the descendants of the Colonials and those of their brothers and sisters aligned with them had mixed with the native humans of this Earth, the real Earth creating a hardier version of humanity one that actually made Simon proud. The old human race did indeed die off as did the old Cylon race. His Cylon race including the body he now used were also a blending of the original organic Cylons and those humans that he had kept as pets, no pets isn't the right word, no it was more like saving back members of endangered species here on this Earth for the purpose of repopulating their numbers. Simon had been successful. On their world he founded on a planet just three parsecs rimward of this Earth he had successfully giving rebirth to the Cylon race and even the descendants of the surviving Colonial test subjects were now more Cylon than Colonial.

All Neo-Cylons even those born through normal means had living nanotechnology cybernetics within their bodies and the entire race had the silicon pathways that allowed the downloading of their consciousnesses and memories into new bodies should death occur. The trouble was like their cousins from Earth they were susceptible to Goa'uld infestation. Several of their brothers and sisters over the last several thousand years had to be destroyed so that their very essences could be rescued from the Goa'uld. Sadly many were so damaged by the forced blending that their essences had to be boxed until they could find a way to fix the damage the Goa'uld did to them.

It was this hatred of the Goa'uld that drove Simon to manipulate Robert into a position of power within his nation's government. Now he was like Diana interested in knowing how soon they could take control of the Stargate. "Diana asked you a question Robert, how long before we can take control of the Stargate?"

Sen. Kinsey looked at Simon there rolling the blue crystal between his left index finger and thumb and the look on his face was like the turning of a channel on a television set. The spiteful religious fanatic Senator Robert Kinsey sort of went to sleep as the loyal Cylon agent Robert Kinsey awoke and came to front of their compartmentalized personae. "Though General Hammond had a long talk with President Ryan as my alter ego threatened him with arrest and the end of his career I think I can get a bill rammed through Congress starting with the Senate that would call for the closing down of the Stargate Program, the month balling of the Stargate Command Base under NORAD's base. I don't think that there is anything we can do about the rebirth of this Terran Confederation." Kinsey took another sip of the whiskey Sharon had fixed him.

Kinsey collected his thoughts then said, "Except for weapons technology there isn't much back engineering those ships could do for us. Granted the tylium deposits here are just as good as any in any other star system nearby, but these ships give these humans or rather Cylon-Human hybrids an adequate FTL system without having to use up tylium. These drives from the reports I've read are powered by special hydrogen fusion reactors separate from the ones that give the ships their electrical power. These drives like the hyperdrives of the Goa'uld open a window into an alternate spatial dimension…"

Simon nodded as Kinsey told him what he learned through his position on several important Senate Committees and Subcommittees. Simon hadn't told the pilot that he was ready to leave yet, but he was sure that they should get Robert back to D.C. or California soon. D. C. would be the best destination, from there Robert could put in motion the needed writs and warrants to take control of the Chappa'ai and to set things up so that Ryan or those he backs wouldn't be able to stop them. Now Simon wondered if they had enough time to get control of the gate before the Goa'uld attacked Earth. He too had heard from sources out in Goa'uld space that Apophis and his son Klorel were about to attack though the timetable wasn't clear as to when.

Simon and actually hoped that this Terran Confederation could be built and ready to handle the defense of Earth and that an alliance with the Ziru Sirka could be possible between it and the Terran Confederation. As it was from his reading of the latest reports from his spies Apophis was intent on taking Earth and as soon as possible. From other spies on Earth what he learned of the Rayne Effect had him smiling because he know that some higher power had helped Earth by manipulating the power used by Ethan Rayne to turn people into their costumes.

The ships centered on the INTREPID were dangerous to even the most current of the Cylon Basestars, which still resembled the starfish of 150 millennia ago. The heavy raider that did a recon flyby recently noted that the ships had powerful sensors with decent range, about on par with those of the Galactica or even the Pegasus from so long ago. These ships were the gift of the Gods if you will and by the Gods Earth and his cousins needed them and to build more like them and soon.

"Don't worry Robert, I think we can help with the building of their fleet. After all we have over one hundred fifty thousand years of experience building starships. I even have a few gifts of our own to offer Earth. What I want you to do after gaining control of the Chappa'ai, is to set up a meeting between me and President Ryan. I have a plan that could mean the reunification of us with our cousins. I know you've grown up amongst them and are as loyal to them in your own way as you are to us. But I want you to remember we are different from them even though they descend from the Rebel Twos, Sixes, and Eights interbreeding with the survivors of the Colonies and the native humans of this world. When you die Robert there is a younger version of your body waiting for you on our homeworld. When these folks die well there is no Apotheosis for them." Simon then sat back and finished his Scotch and soda.

"Sucks to be them," Kinsey commented as he finished his whiskey. Then he sat back to enjoy the ride back to D. C. Simon had put his blue crystal away and noticed that it was the Senator, and not the Cylon who said that last comment. The Senator sat back in his seat enjoyed a refill of his drink and was lost in his own mind the whole trip back to the nation's capital. Simon was sure from the look on the Senator's face that the man was having fantasies about what he would do with the Chappa'ai.

RAF HEREFORD, ENGLAND

John Clark hung up his phone and called out, "Ding!" The news he got wasn't what he wanted to hear. The President just informed him that a certain United States Senator, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee no less had a secret army and was about to force a covert command of the Air Force to hand over the most secret device in human history or face courts martial and imprisonment of its members. At the moment the defense budget was being held up in the House's committee by Representatives belonging to the same block as Senator Robert Kinsey of California. Ryan had told him that the good Senator was using the National Intelligence Directive as a personal goon squad and had its Para-Military branch readied to take over something called Stargate Command.

Ryan had also told him to expect a Major Paul Davis within the hour. Maj. Davis was bringing with him a briefing and non-disclosure papers to be signed bay all current members of Rainbow before being read into the Stargate Project. Coming with Major Davis was a Stargate Team composed of people from the Terran Confederation Marine Corps lead by a Major Elizabeth Summers. Clark looked at his watch and thought that this Major Davis must have hopped a Space-A flight out of Andrews twelve hours ago. "Just like Jack to wait until his representative was an hour out before calling me."

Domingo Chavez formerly of the United States Army's 75th Infantry Regiment (Ranger) came into the office of Rainbow Six and said, "What's up?" He noticed that Mister C had the look on his face of someone just given some interesting news and life was going to change in some pretty strange ways. "Mister C, why are you looking like that?" Ding didn't call General Clark Mister C except when alone with his father in law or in the presence of just President Ryan. This was one of those times as the outer office was empty as everyone else had left for the day. Only he and Mister C were still in the Rainbow HQ building.

"Ding we have United States Air Force Major Paul Davis inbound with a team of Marines from that new international force the Terran Confederation Marine Corps. I just got off the phone with Jack and what he had to tell me was both interesting and spooky at the same time. Major Davis will have everyone sign some NDFs before he gives us a briefing on what's going on in a base located under NORAD and a Major Elizabeth Summers will be giving us a briefing on why it would be bad for a certain Senator Robert Kinsey to get control of the device protected by the undisclosed command under NORAD." John Clark was looking very seriously at Ding by the time he finished speaking.

"Robert Kinsey, hmmm… Isn't he one of Kealty's boys?" Ding asked as he recognized the name.

"Yes he is and a political survivor. He's also a real player in the Washington power games. It seems he's trying to broaden his power base by trying to take control of a secret operation blacker than Rainbow," replied Clark. Clark then went over to a window overlooking the square at the center of the builds assigned to Rainbow on RAF Hereford. Some of the team members of the Rainbow teams were in an ad hoc game of football, or soccer as Americans call it. "I want everyone back here within the hour, start with the ones playing soccer out there and tell them to be in duty dress and in the main briefing room by then. I'll call the others in."

ONE HOUR LATER RAF HEREFORD

The sound of the aircraft coming in could be heard as a low volume banshee like wail. Gen. Clark looked out at the parade ground to see a tri-toned grey wedged shaped craft land softly on the cobblestones of the square at the center of the parade ground. A side hatch and a rear ramp like rear hatch opened. From the side hatch emerged a man in USAF dress uniform and from the rear appeared eight people in a uniform and body armor like he'd never seen before. Seven of the eight formed up in a single file as the eighth looked them over then called them to attention and marched them toward the main briefing hall. The USAF Officer fell in at the rear of the small squad sized column.

Clark was watching this from the small office to the left of the main entrance as you entered the old World War Two era building. With him was Ding who had returned to the HQ building after calling the Rainbow Teams back to RAF Hereford. "We'd best get over to the Theater Ding, the show's about to begin," Clark said as he saw two other people get out of the landing craft and begin to do post operation preventive maintenance checks and services or PMCS on the small ship.

Maj. Chavez just nodded and led the way out of the office and HQ building walking toward the Theater which was the main briefing hall for Rainbow. He held the door for Brig. Gen. Clark. The two men were now civilian covert operatives of the CIA, but they were once a Navy Chief Petty Officer (Clark) and an Army Staff Sergeant (Chavez). Today though as their cover to the rest of the world they held reserve commissions in the United States Marine Corps (Clark) and the United States Army (Chavez). The whole commissioning was Ryan's idea and part and parcel part of the whole cloth of the establishment of Rainbow.

Once inside the Theater Clark and Chavez marched up to the stage and podium and Clark began the briefing, "At ease everyone. I've called you all back to Hereford to brief you on an emergency mission that will require the whole of Rainbow to complete. Before we get to the meat of the briefing however Major Paul Davis of the United States Air Force would like you to fill out the Non-Disclosure Agreements on the tables in front of each of you. Once those are filled out he and Major Elizabeth Summers of the Terran Confederation Marine Corps will begin the briefing."

After giving that statement Clark and Ding read through and filled out their NDAs and handed to one of the Marines with Maj Summers. Maj Davis took the podium and began the briefing, "Gentlemen and ladies what I am going to say over the next hour is classified deeper than even Rainbow…" He began introduce Rainbow to the Stargate Project and Stargate Command. After an hour of briefing including the recent events that brought Earth its first small fleet of starships the members of Rainbow first looked like they were about to send Maj Davis and company packing, but then settled down as Staff Sergeant Napple Baenrahel and her Drow troops took off their helmets and revealed their race to the men before them. One of the British members of Rainbow spouted out loudly, "Where the blazes did you find real Drow?"

SSgt Baenrahel answered without prompting, "Sir until Halloween night this last year I was or thought I was just an ordinary human high school Junior at Sunnydale High School in the former city of Sunnydale, California. As it turned out the Rayne Effect not only turned me and my friends into our costumes, but lifted a millennia old glamor that had this world's if you pardon my expression fantasy races believing and looking like they were as human as the rest of you. Sadly the effect only worked on those living in Sunnydale because of the range of the area effect of the late Ethan Rayne's for lack of a better word spell."

First Sergeant Dawn Summers spoke next saying, "As a result of the Rayne Effect those of us dressing as members of either the Terran Confederation Armed Forces or the Third Imperium Armed Forces became what we dressed as. After the effect wore off we retained the skills, memories, and physical alterations obtained during our influence under the spell. Until last Halloween Night Major Summers and I were also juniors at Sunnydale High School. Major Summers is my older sister by ten minutes. She and I under the effects of Rayne's spell became not only our Traveller characters in now Captain Alexander Harris' Terran Confederation Traveller game campaign, but essentially our descendants from either this universe's future or a parallel future. As for Napple, Aura and the other four members of our team they became a cross between their Traveller characters and their Dungeons and Dragons three point oh characters. Then we realized that the six of them, their parents, and other family members were and always had been Ssri-tel-quessir or Dark Elves. The dispelling of the ancient glamor only affected those outside Sunnydale within their families' blood lines. We're still tracking down even those that turned out to be half-breeds between the various Elven races and humans. That though is no the mission of our team. We're one of the contract and military operations teams of Stargate Command. Now I will turn this over to Major Summers."

Buffy or Elizabeth as she preferred these days stood up and went to the front of the stage foregoing the podium. From the edge of the stage she first gave the "World is Older than You Know," speech then she went into the meat of the mission that her team and Rainbow were going to pull off. "I know from reading the files of each of you given to us by the President that you are skilled in special operations as well as counter terrorism. We are calling mostly on your special operations skills for this mission as Senator Kinsey's NID black ops teams are drawn from former members of the Special Operations community and mostly the United States' segment of that community."

Maj Summers went over to a table on the stage. Using a pitcher of water there she poured herself a glass and drank it to wet her throat and mouth. Then she returned to her briefing, "We have little time to go over what is about to happen, but before we leave and go to Colorado have the maps in your briefing packets memorized. As for kit lethal weapons are authorized. Kinsey's people are threat to the security of not only the United States of America, but Earth as well. The Terran Confederation Armed Forces are being reconstituted in this universe to defend Earth and her interstellar holdings. As Major Davis told you we have some off-world colonies only reachable at this time through the Stargate. They aren't very big, but they are bases and sources of resources the Earth needs if we're going to battle the Goa'uld and win. What Senator Kinsey plans to do will endanger the entire world while he tries to make the United States strong in his image of that strength."

Buffy then took another drink from her glass as she let the last sink into the minds of the members of Rainbow. Seeing that they comprehended what she just told them she continued, "Now President Ryan and his counterparts amongst the strongest nations of Earth are forming the new Terran Confederation to be Earth's face to the rest of the Galaxy. In the timeline my memories come from even that Terran Confederation was only a slightly strengthened United Nations and was already having trouble administering the colonies and territories it had acquired in its wars with the Ziru Sirka or Vilani Grand Empire of Stars."

Buffy then cleared her throat in an exercise to clear her mind before going on. Davis nodded at the TCMC Major giving her the go ahead to continue the briefing so she turned her gaze across the assembled members of Rainbow from General Clark and Major Chavez to the most recent members of the special operations unit. She resumed speaking about the threat of the Goa'uld and the existence in this universe of a parallel Ziru Sirka and her recent visit to some of its worlds. She got serious then, "The Goa'uld are very close and that is dangerously close. Until three months ago they had a base on Kaguk an Earthlike planet on the tailing edge of this subsector. A strike force of Vilani successfully at great loss of men and material destroyed that base. My team upon activation of that planet's stargate from Earth found the survivors of that Vilani mission and later returned them home after they were treated for their wounds and radiation poisoning here. We learned from records recovered from the Kaguk Goa'uld base that the Goa'uld System Lord Apophis was intending to invade Earth and subjugate us. As Major Davis told you long ago our ancestors overthrew his brother Ra driving him from Earth and that more recently the first team sent through the Stargate by then Project Giza killed Ra and liberated another human world from his enslavement. Then two years later soldiers of Apophis on a spoiling mission raided the location of the Stargate in the mothballed Project Giza bunker taking several airmen prisoner. It was the rescue operation that brought Earth back under the gaze of Apophis. We've been at war with this Goa'uld System Lord since. Mostly it's been low keyed guerilla attacks on weak points in his part of the Stargate network, but we've also been training local humans to resist the Goa'uld and their soldiers the Jaffa."

Buffy looked at them nodding in comprehension about her statements and said next, "What Senator Kinsey wants to do is to shut down Stargate Command. Afterwards he wants to reopen it as a Black Operation, but he won't be using it to improve Earth's place in the galaxy. His missions will be nothing more that piracy as he wants to raid the other worlds out there for any advance technology his people can latch onto. Earth would become the enemy of our fellow humans rather than the liberator of them if this occurs. We are going to stop Kinsey and his people before his plan can be completed. After we've gone over the plan the AC 230 Arapaho Assault Craft will take us back to Colorado and we'll be waiting for Kinsey. Already SG-1 has gone through the gate to see if they can stop or delay Apophis, but we can't afford to have the Stargate off line while Earth is threatened by the Goa'uld because even if we have power off to the gate on our side the Goa'uld can activate it from one of their worlds and send more troops through it to reinforce their invasion forces. We can't have the gate and its base fall to the Goa'uld because of one man's blind ambitions."

Gen. Clark got up then thanking Majors Davis and Summers for their briefing as well as the members of Summers' team for their parts in it. He turned then to the members of Rainbow saying, "As you see the fate of the world rest in the hands of a few brave individuals be they human or Drow we have to save our planet from an enemy worse than any we've faced so far. Once we've done this defeating the madmen of Earth won't seem so hard anymore will it?"

After the meeting the members of Rainbow filed out of the Theater and went to their ready rooms to prepare for the mission to Colorado. All other missions were on hold for the moment as the impending threat of Apophis' invasion and the more immediate threat of Senator Robert Kinsey's misuse of part of the United States security apparatus to take control of a military and political asset that could jeopardize any defense to be raised against Apophis' invasion had to be dealt with first. Both Rainbow teams were needed for this operation. Lucky for them the AC-230 was large enough for the operator teams and the command team as well as Major Davis and Major Summers and her SG team.

Across England and in other places in Canada, Europe and Russia similar flights took off from secret military bases all headed for the middle of Colorado. One man's blind ambitions were threatening the safety of the planet as a whole and the heads of state and government of the member nations of the newly formed Terran Confederation weren't going to let Senator Robert Kinsey destroy their efforts to protect the homeworld.

SPACE NEAR EARTH'S 100 PLANETARY DIAMETERS ZONE

Captain Harris did not worry about his delayed promotion. He instead was planning the defense of his homeworld. He had a picket line of FIERY-Class Gunned Escorts and FREMONT-Class Scout/ Couriers deployed deep into the black between Mars and the asteroid belt. Sensors on Earth itself were now tied into his Command Bridge as were those on the ships forwardly deployed. The only two ships of Earths tiny Starfleet deployed around the homeworld were his TCS INTREPID and Commander Joyce Summers' TCS AUGUSTUS. The AGRIPPA-Class Destroyer was in a high guard position over Earth's northern polar region with the small squadron of PULLER-Class Assault Ships in a similar position over the southern polar region. Vice Admiral Giles was at FLEETCOM HQ in San Diego monitoring the situation. He had orders and power to activate all the world's armed forces in the defense of the planet and so far all the ships not in dry dock or construction slips in San Diego and other naval bases around the world were at sea and in dispersed defensive positions. All the air forces of the member states of the Terran Confederation were on alert with Combat Air Patrols being flown around the clock.

Across the Earth amongst the members of the Terran Confederation reserve component troops were mobilized and active duty forces were deployed to defensive positions either on or near sensitive and vital installations. The heads of state and government of the TC member nations were already in their secret secure facilities as preparations for the impending invasion continued.

Harris knew this as he was in constant contact not only with VADM Giles at FLEETCOM, but with the combat operations centers of each of the armed forces of the Confederations member nations. His forces were the shield and armor of Earth yet all could be for naught if Major Summers and those gathered to reinforce her failed to stop Senator Kinsey. One man's ambitions could not be allowed to threaten the security of the planet and the freedoms of its inhabitants. As he stood there contemplating what was going on and what was to come, LCDR Chase came up to him with a printout of a communique from the TCS CASTOR. It read, "HYPERSPACE EVENT DETECTED BETWEEN JUPITER AND ASTEROID BELT stop… SECOND HYPERSPACE EVENT DETECTED FIVE AUS SOLAR SPINWARD FROM FIRST stop… CASTOR RETURNING TO FLOCK stop… TELL MOTHER HEN HER CHICKS ARE COMING TO AVOID BEING EATEN BY THE FOXES stop…"

Next LCDR Kalderash came up with additional communiques from the rest of the forwardly deployed pickets. All of them were returning at flank speed to join the INTREPID in protecting Earth. He looked up at his XO the reincarnated Commander Jesse McNally and said, "Well Jesse the show is about to begin and it isn't even May yet." Jesse smiled at the reference. It seemed that from some memories gained during the Halloween Event in a parallel verse to this one the Scoobies as Xander and Buffy's group were called wound up saving the Earth from demonic apocalypses nearly every May. It was only February and they were already facing an Apocalypse.


End file.
